Fall For Me
by Fangrules
Summary: It's been 18 years since FFY and Zailiel is all grown up. The only problem? The Betrayers still want her, her father is over controlling, her mother is chained in Hell, the Nephilim are dying and let's not mention the fact that she's fallen in love with a human.
1. School

"I want to go to school, Dad!" She cried, throwing up her arms in frustration. "It's not that big of a deal. I just want to hang around with humans, go to class, to be at least semi-normal for once! Why can't you let me have that?"

"Because it is too dangerous." He growled back, his light dimming as he fed from her emotions, her anger and betrayal never having a good effect on any angels around her. His eyes were two pools of endless black, his own stubborn resolve the only thing that shone in the usually starry onyx.

"It's _school_ not some hang-out for bloodthirsty Betrayers!" Zailiel snapped, her arms firmly crossed over her chest and sunset eyes narrowed in agitation.

His shoulder's tensed, his wings spread the length of the room, "And that proves how naïve you are." he said softly but he did not need to yell the words to make her blanch. "You are too young, Zailiel. I will not have you putting yourself in danger over something as inconsequential as _school_."

Now flaring with anger she ripped the delicate oval locket from around her neck where it had been since she was three, throwing it at him. "Young? I'm too _young_?" She yelled, "_Mom_ was only a few years older than me when you Fell for her and she made the choice to follow you and love you and you never for a _second_ thought that she was too young to make that decision for herself!" The floor beneath them shook, the lights flickered and plaster fell from the ceiling as a result of the emotion bubbling out of her.

Her father whirled to face her, crossing the space between them in a second, "And look what came of your mother!" he roared, sparks jumping from him as he struggled to keep hold of his power. "She is _dead_, Zailiel. She is dead because of what I forced on her and I will _not_ have the same thing happening to you!"

Tears burned at her eyes at the rare sight of her father's pain. He never let her see him when he lost control, he was always cool and collected, even when faced with Betrayers yet one mention of her mothers and he crumbled before her. "Nothing will happen to me, Da." She whispered, her anger replaced by the aching need to comfort her father and go and see her mother. Unable for the moment to indulge in the second she wrapped her arms around her father, enveloping herself in the safety of the arms that had always protected her.

He held her tight as if that alone could keep her from harm and whispered into her hair, "You do not know how hard it is, Zaza." He pulled away to look her in the eye, "Humans…they pull you in without even realising it. They bring out things in you that you did not know existed and that will put you in danger. For a kind so truly oblivious to what goes on around them they hold extraordinary power." He gave her shoulders a squeeze, "Their naïveté is their greatest weakness. Growing close to them will make them an easy target, something that the Betrayers will use against you without a second thought. I cannot protect everyone, Angel, no matter how much I wish I could. Maybe in a few years you can be free to do as you wish but for now…I can't waste time trying to protect humans who do not even understand who the true enemy is and it would not be fare to involve them." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before sweeping out of the room.

Zailiel didn't move for a long moment, unsure what to make of what her father had said. She reached up to fiddle with the locket only to remember that pulled it off. Panic rising she rushed to the window where he had been standing, searching desperately for the locket. The breath whooshed out of her when she found it hiding under the curtains, the metal thankfully undamaged. She slid it off of the now useless silver chain and cradled it in her palm. "What now?" She sighed, leaning her back against the window. Filled with the need to escape, even for a few hours she dug around in the desk until she located a piece of paper and scribbled a quick note.

_Gone to see mom, be back soon. _

_Zaza_

xXx

Hell hadn't changed at all since her last visit. The halls were still the same pitch black stone buffed until it shone; the floor the same grey-lined white marble and the sconces set periodically into the rock were the usual Fallen Angel carrying the weight of Heaven on its back in the form of a flaming cross.

"And what are you doing back so soon, child?" A familiar and unwelcome voice hummed right by her ear but she had learned years ago not to react to the sudden appearances of the Demons. Especially Asmodeus, the temperamental right hand of Lucifer was constantly going out of his way to creep her out.

"Oh you know, just came to check out the scenery, Hell's beautiful this time of year." Zailiel responded boredly, completely ignoring the Demon behind her even as he followed her through the maze that would lead to Lucifer's quarters.

"Ah, you are not seeing eye to eye with the wretch you call a father." He chuckled, a teeth grinding sound that made Zaza want to wince but she bit it back.

"Is there any particular reason why you're still here Asmodeus? Or are you just so in complete awe of me that you can't tear yourself away?" she taunted, enjoying the hissing sound he released.

"Hardly. You may distantly share blood with my King but that does not make you worthy of Hell."

She rolled her eyes in response even though she knew he couldn't see. _Demons, why must they be such asses?_ "If you hate me so much then leave." She dismissed but still he lingered.

"You are dismissed, Asmodeus." The silky smooth command echoed down the hall from ahead where a door had opened, the golden light spilling into the gloomy passage.

With a gruff "As you wish." the Demon skulked off back the way he came, his footsteps silent.

"He does ask an interesting question, my little fire. What brings you back so soon?" Lucifer enquires, opening the thick wooden door engraved from top to bottom with tantalising swirls to allow her entry into his library.

"I was hoping to see my mom." Zailiel admitted, sitting in her usual spot next to the fire burning bright in the hearth. The plush red chair welcomed her happily, her wings settling easily into the design that ensured it wasn't uncomfortable. Lucifer relaxed into the matching chair across from her, one brow arched in question.

"Was Asmodeus wrong in his observation?" he pressed, leaning forward. His flaming wings spread out slightly as he did so, draping gracefully over his white-clothed back.

Sighing in defeat Zaza shook her head, "No, he was right. Not about my father being a wretch, but the other part."

"You have been visiting her more often lately." He noted, "As much as I believe she is pleased by this I know she is beginning to wonder why."

Feeling even more like a child Zailiel couldn't meet the flaming orbs that were Lucifer's eyes. Some had compared her own to them though hers were more of a deep sunset than a live fire.

"What is it child?" Lucifer rested a hand on her own where they sat clasped in her lap.

"Just that." She admitted, "Da believes I am nothing more than a child who cannot make decisions without his own personal input."

Lucifer let out a honey coated chuckle which she knew was the complete opposite of what one would hear when confronted with him on the mortal plane. Of course, she'd never spoken to him out of Hell so she would not know but from what she had heard he was quite the nightmare when out of his kingdom.

"In the mortal world you are far passed a child, Zailiel, but you do not live in the mortal world. I do believe you are perfectly able to make your own choices but you must also accept the fact that we are at war and there are things you are yet to understand. As much as it chagrins me to admit this I must side with Sandalphon. He is simply trying to protect you. Enough chat. Come, I will take you to your mother." Lucifer picked up a beautiful crystal decanter from the side table and approached the hearth.

"Thank you." She stood before the hearth, waiting for Lucifer's signal before she stepped into the blazing inferno which instantly consumed her.

**so...first chapter...what do you think? I know it's short, sorry about that... but it's a tester to see if anyone likes where i'm going with this. i hope you do, lol! If you do, please review and let me know!**

**If you haven't read Fallen For You and are just jumping straight into this one...not a good idea, like serious no no cause the fact is i'm using the same terminology, characters and carrying on the plot from FFY and I won't be doing much reexplaining about FFY unless necessary. so, go read FFY if you haven't already and if you have but ages ago i recommend rereading it and letting me know if there's stuff you don't get. **

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**Fangrules**


	2. Mom

xXx

A soft knock on the door broke Sandalphon from his thoughts and he turned to find a familiar expression on the Fallen Angel of Nature's face. "Fang." Lily greeted warmly, her golden eyes never leaving his.

He broke eye contact, returning his gaze to the window to look out at the bustling city below them. He wasn't too sure he liked the city, even after eighteen years he hated the noise and small chance of no casualties that came with the city life. Zailiel loved it. But then again, Zailiel loved everything to do with humans so it was understandable why she would want to surround herself with them. He'd tried for years to break that but his interfering had only seemed to make the desire to join them stronger. His shoulders slumped at the thought of their argument. If only Max were there…

His heart gave a painful squeeze, longing tightly gripping him. How he envied Zailiel. He would give almost anything just to spend one more moment with his love, to say goodbye, to hold her and kiss her one last time. To know that she was still there, somewhere.

His hand tightened around the wall, plaster splintering beneath his fingers and crumbling to dust. Swearing he released the brittle wall, wiping the dust on his pants.

Lily had yet to say a word though he could feel her behind him, watching, waiting for him to voice his argument. "She's left, hasn't she?"

"Yes." Lily approached, leaning against the wall to his right. Her glow was especially bright today; no doubt she had spent the afternoon with Micah, Nudge and Iggy's little boy. He never failed to radiate the most wonderful energy so it was no surprise that Fallen flocked around him for a taste.

"Zaza…she's testing her boundaries Fang. Little girls don't just blindly follow and with Max as a mother I'm not too sure what else you could have expected." She let out a tinkling laugh, the genuine smile softening her features even more. "You should know exactly how to handle anything she throws your way, after all you watched Max for twenty five years."

Fang shook his head, his hand sifting through the shaggy black mess. "I never could get Max to agree to anything, not even if I used a powerful suggestion. She was defiant 'till the end."

"That she was." Lily agreed, her smile dimming when he did not return it.

"I miss her." He whispered.

"We all do." She sighed, staring out the window, "I did not have the pleasure of knowing her for very long but I do not think that matters in the least. She gave her soul to protect us all and because of that I know she was a spectacular woman."

Fang cast a sideways glance at Lily, slightly surprised to hear her speak of that fateful day. "Ezekiel told you?" he couldn't think of any other way for Lily to know that Max had risked her very soul to warn the Archangel of Death about what was happening, Ezekiel hadn't even told Fang until moments before the Archs' ascension.

Lily shook her head, her smile back, "No, he did not need to. It is all the Fallen speak of, Sandalphon. What she did…it gave them hope. There wasn't a single Angel that wasn't watching that day. Why do you think so many others have Fallen? Now they have a chance to live on this earth, to love as you did. You have sacrificed so much for us all, Fang, but do not think for a second that we don't know exactly what you gave up and that we wouldn't do anything for you if you asked." She rested a hand on his arm, her liquid gold eyes beseeching him to understand.

He nodded, "Thank you, Sofiel." He said sincerely, "Unfortunately I do not think there is anything anyone can do to appease my daughter." He scowled.

Lily laughed, pleased by the change in subject, "Ah but there is." She sang, "Zaza simply wants a year to be normal. We can give her that without putting her in danger."

Fang cocked his head to the side, the stars in his eyes dancing in question. "How?"

"I have spoken with everyone and they have all agreed to help in any way needed. Elijah with enrol with her, as well as Xaphan and Israfel."

His eyebrows shot up, "Xaphan has agreed to a year in high school?" He couldn't see the Demon agreeing to any such thing without the excessive use of blackmail and bribery. "And what have you agreed to give him in return for his…cooperation?"

"Oh don't you worry about the Demon, I will take care of him should any trouble arise." She waved it off and waited for his answer. "Is that suitable protection?"

"Israfel is younger than Zailiel, I am not too sure how the Nephilim is meant to supply any form of protection." He hedged, thinking of Nudge's oldest child.

"That I am afraid is all thanks to Harachel. He told his darling wife of the plan and she would dearly love for her daughter to experience the delights of high school alongside her best friend."

"So now I am not only angering one Nephilim but two, a Fallen _and_ a very pregnant immortal woman if I refuse? Good lord this was all part of the plan wasn't it? I can't say no without starting a full out war."

"Afraid so, Fangy!" A chipper chime answered as the aforementioned pregnant immortal entered the dining room. "What did you do to the wall? Oh come on Fang, I just redecorated last week! Now I'm going to have to repaint the whole room and that means that none of the furniture is going to match so I have to go get a whole new dining set just because you can't keep your grubby paws to yourself?" She ended with a huff, crossing her arms over her swollen belly as she pouted at the Fallen before her.

"Fine, Zaza and Izzy can go to school. For _one _year and if there is even the smallest sign that either are in harms way it is to stop without an argument."

Instantly Nudge's eyes lit up, "Really? You'll let them?" With a high pitched squeal she threw herself at him, almost knocking him over with her enthusiastic hug.

xXx

I was in a wide open field today, surrounded by thigh high golden grass that waved in the gentle breeze that wafted over my heated face. I was sweating from head to toe, walking into fire tended to do that to a person. My long brown hair stuck grossly to my cheeks and neck and my clothes clung to my hot skin. Yuck. I revelled in the refreshing air for a moment, my eyes drifting shut and my head tipped to the sky. When I opened them again it was to the sound of twittering birds and rustling leaves, completely different to the complete silence that had reigned before. Twigs cracked beneath animal's feet and the deep baritone of a large waterfall not so far away greeted me.

_"Zaza."_ The whisper carried in the wind and swirled around me in a warm caress.

"Hi, Mom." I sighed, dropping down in the thick grass which was way too soft to be real, but of course, it wasn't.

Nothing there was, everything that surrounded me, the breeze, the sounds, the plants and sky was all a result of my mom. She created everything in her own personal circle of Hell, she could create and destroy anything there – with the exception of real life of course, everything was only temporary. A specific rustle of leaves had me looking over to the tree line where a tall woman now stood, her dirty blond hair blowing in the wind and beautiful brown speckled white wings exactly line mine spread out around her. She was dressed in the usual faded jeans and plain white shirt with no shoes. She never wore shoes, it made her feel disconnected from her surroundings – well, that's what she'd told me when I was little.

The thing was that it wasn't really my mom standing right there because she didn't have a body, that had been completely destroyed when she died eighteen years ago. Her soul inhabited this circle of Hell and she was able to project a part of her soul into an image giving me a mom I could touch, hear and smell but in essence wasn't really there. She rushed towards me with her arms spread wide and a large smile lighting up her youthful face. She didn't look a day over 25, because technically she wasn't. That's how old she was when she'd died. Of course, she could age herself if she wanted to but I suppose neither of us really thought about how we looked like sisters now since I was surrounded by people who didn't age. My Da looked young enough to be my older brother and he was thousands of years old.

She pulled me in and hugged me tight, her wings encircling me. I breathed in the comforting scent of earth and just plain _Mom_. I tucked my head onto her shoulder, having to lean down since I was about an inch taller than she was thanks to my dad. She pulled away to give me a once over as usual, making sure I hadn't changed since the last time she'd seen me. "Where should we go today?" she asked, looping her arm through mine.

"How about…Africa?" I suggested, watching as the field melted away.

The long gold grass grew longer, the lush green trees dissolved leaving behind only one or two acacia's behind, only small dots in the distance. A sprawling orange rock sprung from the ground and a waterhole appeared before it, zebra and giraffe and a herd of elephants wandering over to drink. I could make out a group of five or six vultures circling above and mountains far off to the east. The sun beat down on all of this and in seconds I had broken out in a sweat. Mom fixed that by conjuring a massive willow that totally did not belong.

I didn't complain, however and sat in the cool shade it provided.

Mom lay down beside me, her chocolate eyes contemplative as she watched the scene. "Up to par?" she asked, winking at me. this was part of the game we played, she'd make up the best sceneries she could come up with and if I wasn't happy she'd start again. We'd once done that for hours, just switching up the surroundings until we had a mishmash of everything.

I chuckled, "Perfect." We sat in silence for a long while, not really needing to say anything when we were together. According to dad he and mom could simply be together without saying a word for hours.

At the thought of my dad our earlier argument came back to the forefront of my mind, dampening my happy mood.

"What's wrong, darling?" Mom whispered, turning on her side and propping herself up on her elbow to look at me better.

I scowled and look away, kicking a loose stone in agitation, "Why does everyone assume that something's wrong? Can't I just visit my mom without being hounded with questions? Geeze it feels like the Spanish inquisition." I grumbled.

Mom, I could tell, was biting back a smile, "Zaza, you only ever visit more than once a week when something is wrong. This is the third time in as many days. Now, I think I know my own daughter well enough to tell when something is bothering her."

"Please," I snorted, "you only know what I tell you." I snapped sourly.

There's silence in response. Heat crept up my cheeks. "Sorry." I whispered, glancing over to find her sitting up with sad eyes. Geeze, I just couldn't stop today, could I? First dad, now mom. Who next? Izzy? "I'm sorry, mom, I didn't mean–"

Mom waved it off, "You're right of course, honey. I do only know what you tell me, but I like to think that you tell me everything. Let's not dwell on that, alright? How was your day?"

I hated the fact that she tried to be chipper when I knew I'd hurt her. It was something that only made me feel worse, knowing that no matter what I did or said she'd forgive me because I was all she had. It was the same with dad. "Ok, I guess. Elijah came back from Germany this morning with another Nephilim but dad doesn't know if she'll make it, she was in pretty bad shape." I recalled catching a glimpse of the injured Nephilim just after they'd brought her in and the image sent shivers down my spine.

"Uh…Aunt Nudge gave me this whole long list of baby names she wants you to approve of but to be honest I can't remember most of them."

Mom chuckled, "Why she still insists on trying to find the perfect name is beyond me, everyone knows she's already chosen it."

I smiled, "Yeah. Hey, at least we know this time. Do you remember when Micah was born? They didn't have a clue what to name him until he was born."

"She always was indecisive unless it came to Iggy."

I relaxed back against the tree trunk, "What would you have called me? You know if you had a choice?"

Mom shook her head, "Honey, I didn't even know you existed until Lucifer brought you to me the first time and by then you'd already received a name which I thought was perfect for you." She reached over and gave my hand a squeeze.

"But what about before the whole Angel thing? Did you have names that you would've wanted to call your children?"

She shrugged, "To be honest, no. I had never even entertained the thought of having children, my career was more important than a family. I'd always thought that if I ever met the right person then I'd think about it."  
"You met Da." I pointed out.

She chuckled and sighed, "Yes I did but the decision to have kids or not was made for us before we could even discuss it."

I often forgot the fact that Mom and Da had only been together for about a week before she died, it just didn't seem right. They loved each other to completely that even death couldn't separate them so to think that they had only shared such a short amount of time together didn't seem fair.

"But, in the end, everything worked out. I have you, my beautiful girl, and I would never want it any other way." there was such motherly tenderness in her tone and shining from her eyes that I couldn't stop myself from hugging her. She stroked my hair tenderly as we lapsed into another silence. "Are you going to tell me why you came?" Mom hummed just as I was on the verge of falling asleep.

I tensed instantly, considering the pros and cons of explaining the fight to mom. She hated it when we fought, but then again I did need her advice.

"Da and I had a fight."

She sighed, "I figured as much. Over anything in particular?"

I chewed on my lip, "You'll think it's stupid." I mumbled.

"So it's not Angelically inclined?" she mused.

God, it really was unfair how well she could read me. "No." I sat up and pushed my hair out of my eyes, staring out at the scene before me. "I want to go to school." I finally admitted, waiting to hear her laugh at it.

But the laughter never came so I turned to look at her. "You forget, Zaza, that I was human for the first twenty five years of my life, things like this don't seem stupid to me. I can understand why your father might, though."

I threw up my arms, "Exactly! I just want to be a little bit normal for once, it's not like I was asking him to reanimate my nature. Geeze, he made it sound like I'd asked for the world!"

"What you must understand, Zaza, is that he's only trying to keep you safe."  
"Yeah, I know, I'm all he's got. I've heard it before." I pulled a few blades of yellow grass from the ground, watching as it dissolved in my hand.

Mom touched my cheek, "You apparently don't if you say it so lightly." She admonished, "You are the key to destroy the world, Zailiel, and some will do anything to get to you. Yes, I can understand that you are feeling sheltered and treated as a child but the fact is that you are still young. He just doesn't want what happened to me to happen to you." She tugged me into her side, "Your father can be very stubborn and blind when he feels like it but you must learn the art of trust. If he trusts that you will make mature, low-risk decisions then he will give you more freedom. Throwing a tantrum because you don't immediately get your way is not going to prove that you're ready to take on the world by yourself."

I nodded in understanding. "I get it." I looked down at my watch fully aware that it was pointless given there was no time in Hell. "I should probably head back. I'll see you soon, ok?"

"Anytime, darling. I love you." Mom kissed my forehead and gave me one last hug before the fire swallowed me up.

**Hi Hi! Yes, I know more of a filler chappie but I'm trying to establish all the changes from FFY first before I dive headfirst into this and end up screwing things up later on. I'm trying to better ths story and establishing the character's relationships with eachother is part of that, im afraid. so what do you think of Zaza? Is shea good OC or a failed OC? And are the characters from FFY still like they were? i haven't gone all OOC on them have I?**

**I hope you liked it. please review if you did…only 9 reviews for the first chappie **

**:,-( can we try and do a bit better? I know there have been a lot of alerts so if you guys could let me know if you're loving it or hating it, it would be greatly appreciated. and its apretty long chappie so you reckon we could get some love for it?**

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LUV=INSPIRATION  
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**Fangrules**


	3. Izzy

xXx

It took me a moment to gather my wits when I returned to the library. Floor to ceiling shelves loomed above me, the dancing light supplied by the fire casting strange shadows across the plush furniture dotted around the room and a thick red carpet sunk under my steps. Yes, most definitely back. I spotted Lucifer in a corner of the room a book in hand and a pair of rimless glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. I decided I'd add the image to my growing pile of drawings when I got home. An inside look at life in Hell – most definitely not what the average human thought of when they pictured how the Devil spent his free time.

"How long was I gone?" I asked, my voice raw and scratchy like it always was on the return trip. The results of dehydration.

Lucifer snapped his fingers and a glass of water appeared on the mantle, droplets clinging to the frosted glass. I chugged it down gratefully.

"About ten hours. How was your talk with your mother?" he informed me, not looking up from his book.

"Insightful as always." I chimed earning a ghost of a smile from him.

He closed the book and set his fiery eyes on me, "Will I be seeing you again tomorrow?"

I grinned, "Glad to know you'll miss me so much, Grandpa."

His eyes dimmed to hot coals, something that only happened when he was in a good mood. "You have not called me that in years."

I shrugged, "I didn't think you liked it." I admitted honestly. Even just thinking that the Devil would like to be called Grandpa by someone like me felt stupid.

"Zailiel, you are the closest thing to a daughter that I have. You may call me whatever you wish." He told me, linking his fingers.

"Very dangerous offer to make." I warned, wagging a finger at him. "Who knows? I may just take to calling you Fluffbunny, I'd like to see Asmodeus take you seriously after _that_."

He raised his eyebrows, "You, my dear, are most definitely your mother's child."

xXx

Da was in his office when I returned, apparently having a meeting with Elijah and Dylan. The fact that he was speaking to both of them had me on edge, he only ever needed both of them when something had gone terribly wrong. The fact that it was passed midnight also added to my unease, Da was a firm believer in not working everyone to the bone so pretty much everything came to a halt after six unless it was urgent.

Forcing the sick feeling down I made my way to the second floor, intent on finding Izzy to discuss my most recent visit to Hell. Israfel loved hearing about my time in Hell, it had always been that way for as long as I could remember. She was the closest thing I had to a sibling and the two year age gap between us really didn't even feel like a day. Once again a result of being surrounded by people that have been alive for centuries. The halls were almost completely silent as I made my way to my shared room with Izzy. Occasionally I'd catch a few notes of music as I passed someone's room or a snippet of a conversation. I wasn't overly concerned with everyone else's lives so I ignored it all. Before I even reached the hall leading to Izzy's and my room I could hear the deep base pulsing through the walls. Groaning I pushed open the door to find Izzy on top of her bed, bouncing up and down with her head bopping to the music.

"Iz!" I yelled, quickly shutting the door behind me in hopes that Micah didn't wake up from the music. Aunt Nudge would _kill_ us if that happened again.

Of course she didn't hear me, just kept on jumping without a care in the world. I rushed across the room to her desk where her massive speakers were pumping out the noise and pulled the plug.

Izzy was mid-jump and whipped around in surprise, losing balance as she did so. Her dark brown wings whipped out to steady herself and she landed gracefully in front of me, a full head taller thanks to the ridiculous hot-pink heels she wore. "Zaza! You almost gave me a heart attack!" She gasped, cocking her hip and pouting at me.  
"Iz, what are you wearing?" I sighed, shaking my head at the tiny pink dress she wore embellished with a belt of black studs that fanned down over the bottom half. That, matched with the heels and spiked choker and hair done in wild waves had me suspecting we wouldn't be staying in tonight. Honestly, if Da wouldn't let me go to school I wonder how he'd react to the fact that Izzy snuck out almost every night to go clubbing. I didn't get the appeal but I wasn't one to let her go out on her own, immortal Nephilim or not.

"This, my friend, is my new favourite outfit." She announced, glossy pink lips stretching into a smile.

She did look good, I'd give her that, the dark brown waves framed her petite face perfectly, her shocking blue eyes rimmed with thick black lashes and her light brown skin glowed to show her mood. Now, humans would probably write that off as a lighting effect but Israfel was one of the lucky ones who took after the Angel glow. She also had the option of eating food or emotions which was a rare commodity, even among Nephilim. All in all, Iz was the whole package; absolutely gorgeous, bubbly and fun to be around, completely unique and she had the brains to rival even her dad.

"You're going out again? Do you ever sleep? Seriously, I'm completely knackered, can't we stay in tonight?" I pleaded though I knew it was hopeless.

"No way, Zaza, this is a big night for me!" She huffed, "I'm officially sixteen in…" She glanced down at her watch. "Six hours! We _have_ to celebrate!"

"Remind me again why you think sixteen is such a great number? Seriously, been there done that, not all that memorable." I waved it off, heading towards the bathroom in hopes of getting into my pj's only to have Iz grab my arm. "Please Zaza? Puh-lease? You know they won't let me in unless you're with me. Cheese on crackers its so unfair that you can do the whole – " she wiggled her fingers at me, " – creepy mind control thing." She said ominously, her eyes narrowing.

"Hey, I spoke to my dad about the school thing." I announced, knowing that that was possibly the only thing to get off of the current topic.

Her mouth popped open, her eyes wide. "Well? Is he letting you go? I don't get why you want to, Zaza, we meet enough humans when we go out at night, why do you want to spend the whole day with them too?" Izzy trailed behind me as I dug around for my pajamas, waiting for my answer.

I think the greatest difference between Izzy and I, besides the looks, attitude, likes and dislikes was the fact that she was completely comfortable with being a Nephilim. She embraced everything that came with it, be it moving around every year – "Who wants to stick around on one boring place for the rest of their lives?" – or fighting for our lives when the Betrayers attacked – "Admit it, they keep things entertaining." – while I wanted nothing to do with any of it. Maybe that was a side effect of being watched every moment of you life. Since the day I was born there had been two kinds of people attracted to me; Those that worshipped me, and those that wanted me dead. Now, for the second kind I could understand why and they were generally easy to ignore but the first…being constantly in the limelight wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"We've gone through this about fifty times, Iz." I sighed, rolling my shoulders to release some of the tension gathering in my wings.

"Ok, I can tell you're really not in the mood for going out so I'll cave. We can stay in, go to sleep, talk about shoe polish or whatever makes you happy. How's that sound?" She chirped, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

I gave her a grateful smile that dropped the second we walked back into the bedroom.

Lying across my bed with one of Izzy's fashion magazines in hand was Dylan. "You girls are such a bore." He drawled, tipping the magazine down to smile lopsidedly at us. "Nice jimjams." He commented, cocking an eyebrow at the unicorns that dotted my pajama pants and the old I Heart Smurfs shirt I'd gotten when I was ten.

Izzy snorted rather ungracefully and sauntered over to him, "The word jimjams did _not_ just come out of your mouth."

His eyes raked over the massive expanse of leg on view thanks to her short dress down to the painfully high heels. He let loose an appreciative whistle.

Izzy's eyebrows shot up even as her glow brightened slightly at the complement. "This." She gestured to herself, "Is so out of your league it's not even funny." She told him with pity.

He smirked, "Trust me, songbird, that is on the bottom of my list of acquirements. If you had the metal image that I do, you would agree."

I didn't need to be standing right next to her to tell that she was trying hard not to blush. We both knew what he was referring to. The great french-fry incident was something you never could forget. Izzy had never lived it down unfortunately, even though she'd only been three at the time. I snatched the magazine from Dylan and glared at him.

"Why exactly are you here?" I snapped bitterly, not in the mood to deal with the vain, cocky Demon.

He grinned, "Just to inform you and your chum over here that if you give me any crap for the next year I'll happily turn you into toads."

I scoffed, "Toads? Really? You couldn't be a little more imaginative? What to you think, Iz? Iguana should suite him nicely."  
Izzy tutted, "Nah, too close of a resemblance, Zaza, his ego doesn't need to be inflated any more than it already is. How about a cow pie? A nice big fat cow pie would work."

I hummed in agreement, "I like that idea."

Dylan rolled his eyes, "Well if you don't mind me, girls, I'm going to find a more…appealing crowd to grace my presence with. Miss me." he blew us each a kiss before he disappeared leaving only a wisp of black smoke in his wake.

**Once again just character development…things will get interesting soon, I swear!**

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	4. Feelings

"Ugh!" What is his problem? Seriously, has he never heard of privacy before? Is he that archaic? And the toad comment, is he smoking something?" Iz continued to grumble as she yanked off the heels and tossed them on her equally pink bed.

I chuckled, "I don't know why you suddenly think there's a reason behind Dylan's weirdness."

She huffed, her nose scrunching up, "He is such a-a-"

I held up a hand to cut her off, "Rather not finish that sentence, thanks." I headed for my desk drawer to dig out a pony and while I pulled my hair up I remembered that Dylan had been with Da. That meant whatever meeting they were having was over…it was time to do some investigating. "Hey Iz?" I called into the walk-in closet where Izzy had disappeared to put her dress away. "Have you… felt anything lately?" I asked hesitantly.

A soft thump sounded as something hit the thick cream carpet a second before Izzy appeared in the doorway with her eyes narrowed and pouty lips prused. "Should I have?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, but Da was meeting with Dylan when I was coming back…"

She didn't wait for me to finish before letting out a relieved breath, "Cheese, Zaza, you scared me!" She shook her head and ducked back into the closet, "He was probably telling Dylan off for being an ass…again. It's nothing new." I could tell by that it meant she hadn't gotten one of her famous 'feelings'. Who needed an alarm system when you had an energy sensitive Nephilim? Since Iz was born she'd gotten these weird feelings that almost always preceded some disaster or another though no one really picked up on it until she was about nine or so.

I knew she wasn't going to like what I had to say next so I contemplated the best way to tell her without totally freaking her out. Figuring there really was no gentle way to do it I just took a deep breath and blurted it out. "Elijah was also with them." She froze again, hand poised daintily over the coat rail. A second later it gave an ear splitting scream as it crumbled beneath her fingers.

"Elijah? Why Elijah?" Her voice laced with panic as she spun to face me. "Zaza, if you're joking I might be forced to throttle you." She warned.

"No joke." I assured her, "Alexi let me know when I went looking for Da."

Her face turned an unpleasant shade of pink and her words were shrill when she spoke, "Well what in holy chickens are you still doing here? Get your butt moving, woman!" She thrust a finger towards the door to emphasise her point.

Even though she covered it up really well I could tell she was scared, all of her tells were there; her shaky hands, glassy eyes – and there you go, her fingers found there way to her mouth as she proceeded to strip her manicured nails down to the bed. I knew why she reacted to badly to my one little sentence; Elijah was the only Betrayer to ever join our forces and was ruthless. Da refrained from using him for anything unless it directly involved a clash with the Betrayers.

The fact that Dylan, the Demon charged with aiding the Fallen (and specifically keeping me out of trouble) was there as well as Elijah…well, it did not bode well for our immediate future. To add to that Izzy never ignored one of her feelings. Whether she was mid-sentence or fast asleep she would drop whatever she was doing and go and tell her dad or mine, whichever was closest. All the Fallen and Nephilim knew never to take anything she said lightly – the last time they had, Mia died.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Iz." I attempted a smile but it didn't come out too well since now I was a nervous wreck too.

I ran straight into Elijah in my haste to get to Da and I was about to shove right passed him when I caught a glance of dead wing over one leather-clad shoulder. "Eli!" I gasped, eyes shooting up meet his eerily white ones.

The edges of his lips tipped up into a smile and he gave a little bow, his chestnut hair falling into his angular face. "Zaza." Ah yes, the ever present devotion and awe that surrounded Elijah when he was near me never ceased to annoy me to no end.

Of course, I really couldn't say anything bad about it since it was the reason he was with us in the first place. I was seven when Elijah joined us, a small group of Betrayers had caught up with us and Da was away dealing with a Fallen issue. Aunt Nudge and Lily (or Sofiel, the Angel of nature as she was also known) had stayed behind to keep me hidden and safe. That hadn't worked out like they'd planned. Apparently Elijah and one of his cronies had been tailing us for months and non one had sensed it. So, really, it was no surprise when the two of them managed to sneak into the safe-house undetected. In minutes they'd incapacitated Lily and Aunt Nudge and were headed straight for me.

It was almost midnight so I'd been blissfully unaware of what was happening curled up in my bed – that is until Elijah had ripped me from my dreams. I will admit it, I was completely terrified of him, he'd had Angel blood smeared across his face and soaking his shirt with his own thick black blood mixing into it.

I remember him holding a gleaming silver knife in one hand and a gold band clinging to his upper arm. Aunt Nudge had screamed for me to run but it was cut off by a smash thanks to the Betrayer. I'd screamed then, so completely filled with range and fear that it literally poured out of me. I can't really describe what happened next, the best I can do is say that this unbearable heat gathered in my hands, like my emotions had come alive and were going to destroy me if I didn't release them somehow. So I did. Right into Elijah.

I clamped my small burning hands to his head and he didn't even utter a word, just dropped like a stone and writhed on the floor in pain. i kept my hold on him, though, because the thought of the pain coming back had been more than my seven year old self could handle. It probably only lasted a second but it felt like an age before it ended. Suddenly Elijah shot up and threw me onto the bed before bolting from the room. I heard a curse come from the other Betrayer and then he was screaming. What I didn't know then was that Elijah was ripping him apart – literally.

Sofiel had stumbled into the room badly injured but relief flooding her every feature. She'd wrapped me up in a tight hug and kept telling me it would be alright. Elijah came back in and I'd opened my mouth to scream at him to leave us alone when he'd dropped to his knees before me and bowed his head in submission. Da almost killed him when he got back and the only thing stopping him had been Aunt Nudge and Lily who'd explained the situation. Elijah had been my own personal bodyguard ever since.

To this day I couldn't figure out what I'd done to him that day that would make him turn his back on his entire world and turn to me to guide him. And I meant that literally because for the first few years he'd never been more than a room away from me until I'd gotten to that awkward teenager phase where I sure as hell didn't want someone sticking to my side like glue. The most I could get of him even now was two corridors.

I shifted from foot to foot, caught between spouting out what I wanted to know and waiting for Da to explain. I didn't have the patience to look for Da and to be quite honest, Eli was more likely to tell me the whole truth. "Why were you meeting with Xaphan and my Da?" I hoped it didn't come out as demanded and snotty as I thought it did. I really did like Elijah, even if he did get a bit much with the reverence.

He frowned, "To inform us that we shall be joining you." He said simply, as if I should know this already. "Did Xaphan not tell you?"

I shook my head, "When does Xaphan ever tell me anything?" I tried to keep the dread curling at the base of my stomach from taking over but it was getting pretty hard, especially since Eli still hadn't answered my question. "Well? Joining me where?"

"For the duration of your school career."

I was so relieved to hear those words come out of his mouth instead of the disaster I had been expecting that I almost collapsed. Oh thank god.

Eli's hand gripped my shoulder when I started to sway, his expression turning to one of concern instantly. "Zaza? Are you well?"

I nodded a little too quickly resulting in the beginnings of a headache, "Yeah. Yeah, thanks Eli. I'll be just fine." I pulled away to prove my point and smiled. "School, huh? Da's actually letting me go?" Now that the weight was lifted from my shoulders I was able to fully take in what he'd said. Never in a million years did I ever think Da would actually agree to it, especially after our fight and my talk with Mom.

"You start in the morning." Eli informed me, the smile back now that he was sure I wasn't going to pass out.

I couldn't keep the grin from my face. School. Actual, real, _honest to god _school with humans and homework and absolutely no Angelic interference whatsoever! Giddiness swept away the headache in a second, leaving me just about ready to jump for joy. Instead I settled for throwing my arms around Eli and hugging him tight.

He laughed to cover up his surprise, "I am glad you are pleased."

"Pleased?" I snorted, "I'm way more than pleased. Sorry you have to get dragged down with me." I added. I highly doubted high school was on his list of to-dos.

he just continued to smile at me and shrugged. Right, he'd give up his life for me, a few months in school was hardly a big sacrifice.

xXx

Izzy let out her eighteenth groan in the last half an hour as I pulled out a simple light blue strappy top. "No way. I refuse. I would rather you go in a trash bag." She waved her hands about frantically before pushing me to the side and diving into my collection of tops from around the world.

After sifting through three quarters of it she gave an almighty huff, "Do you have nothing decent? It's official; we're going shopping this week because you need a whole new wardrobe." She marched to the other side of the closet and plucked a shimmery silver sleeveless shirt with a detailed Celtic knot chain that clasped around my neck to hold it up. "There. You see? Gorgeous." She pointed at the blue strappy top, "Gross. Big difference. Here." She tossed the silver shirt at me and I narrowly missed being impaled in the eye with the chain. "Skirt or jeans?" She shot over her shoulder.

"Jeans."

After another minute of digging around she pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and added that along with a pair of cherry red heels that tied in the front with transparent black ribbon.

"Now you'll look decent." She announced, grinning smugly.

I rolled my eyes. "And what are you wearing?" I enquired, curious to see what insanity she would conjure up today.

With a flourish she revealed a white one shoulder dress that came up to mid-thigh covered in a blend of black animal print and a gold-buckled belt. She paired the dress with large gold hoop earrings and white lace heels decorated with black flowers. Overall yet another totally Izzy outfit.

There was a loud bang on our door and an impatient growl, "Hurry the hell up you two! At this rate we're only gonna get there at lunch!"

"Cheese, why him? I think this is your dad's way of making sure we're miserable cause there is no way this is going to be any fun with _him_ around." Izzy complained as she quickly shimmied into her dress and heels, applying a quick coat of light lip gloss and fluffed her hair.

Iz insisted on pulling my hair up into a silver butterfly clip so that a few strands fell around my face and all but attacked me with the cherry red lipstick to match the shoes. Honestly, the child was going to kill me!

"Zaza, if you two are not out here in two minutes the deal is off!" Dylan warned, banging on the door again.  
"Someone needs to teach him patience." Iz tutted, wagging the lipstick in the general direction of the door.

"And you think we're the perfect ones to do it?" I finished, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Heck yeah!" She enthused, slamming the lipstick into her nude clutch and marching out the closet.

I had a feeling school was going to be a blast.

**Hey guys! Back again! So what do you think? I know, not too exciting but I'm really enjoying writing this fic…**

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	5. First day

xXx

"You are not walking into that school glowing like a light bulb, Israfel." Elijah tutted from his position on his sleek, lime green Kawasaki. Ah yes, one of the disadvantages of our glamour; just because we looked like we didn't have wings it didn't mean they weren't there. Things like car chairs were always a pain so we avoided them altogether and stuck to the bikes. His glamour was already in place so that his wings were seemingly gone and his eyes weren't the unnatural solid white they usually were but a light green. It was so strange to see him looking so normal since he hardly ever used his glamour. Eli wasn't what one would call a social animal.

"Oh come on." Izzy grumbled, "It's just a little, they'll never even notice!"

He gave her a hard look and after pouting she finally conceded. Her glow disappeared but I knew for a fact that the second she wasn't around Eli she'd let it out again.

I rolled my eyes at her but didn't say a word. My bike was waiting patiently for me off to the side right where I'd left it. I ran my fingers over the smooth black body and hopped on while Iz climbed on behind Elijah. She accepted the helmet he handed her with little complaint since it was hot pink. Obviously they were rather pointless since we were immortal but we had to keep up appearances.

"Where's Xaphan?" I enquired, noting the absence of the Demon as I undid the clip Iz had put my hair in. it just wasn't that practical when it came to bikes.

Elijah shrugged, "I do not know. He will join us when he is ready, more than that we cannot hope for. We must leave otherwise we will be late."

We shot out of the parking area and headed towards the school.

xXx

The school was buzzing with activity upon our arrival; students hung in groups around cars where music could be heard blaring from the speakers, others were milling about the parking lot aimlessly and a few were making their way towards the main building. A thrill of excitement shot through me and I couldn't keep the grin from my face if I tried. I hopped off the bike and spun to face Izzy. "How great is this?" I gasped.

Iz scanned the crowd critically before turning to me and in all seriousness saying, "There's cute boys. This may actually work out."

I shook my head, "I think you need to evaluate your list of priorities, Iz."

She snorted and cocked her hip, "I'm not the one who wanted to go to school." She reminded.

She had a point. "Ok, fine, you win." I grudgingly conceded.

She fist pumped and stuck her tongue out at me before composing herself. "Well then, let's do this thing."

Every eye was on us as we passed through the lot and Izzy practically floated towards the building. Eli shoved his hands into his pockets and didn't give any indication that he even saw anyone there, never mind the fact that we may as well have had a spotlight shining on us. Now, not to sound vain or anything, but I was pretty used to the overload of attention so I just paid them no mind.

A blast of cold air hit us as we entered the reception thanks to the A/C sucking all the warmth from the room. Eli approached the hulking mass of desk that took up a large amount of the room to sort everything out while Izzy bustled about fixing her hair. I twisted my hair back up into the clip and looked around the mostly empty room idly. There were a handful of pictures nailed to the wall and a trophy case took up the majority of the far wall, almost overflowing with various achievements from over the years. A lone pot plant sat in the corner looking rather worse for ware and beside it an overstuffed cream sofa was pushed against the wall as a waiting area.

Once Eli had gotten everything we needed he came back over to us with a heavy scowl on his features.  
"What?" I asked, taking the paper he was holding to find out what he was so grumpy about. "It's just a schedule, Eli."

"They are different." He accused, waving the other three at me like I should completely understand why this was such a massive problem. "That woman–" He jabbed a finger towards the cheery receptionist with disdain, "–refuses to correct the problem. I am sorry, Zaza, but as such I am afraid I cannot allow this. We will return home." He firmly told me.

I just gaped at him for a moment. "No!" I snapped, my anger bubbling to the surface. No way in Hell was I going back just because Eli couldn't get over the fact that he wasn't going to be able to shadow my every move! "I'm staying and so is Izzy. If you want you can leave but I under no circumstances are we going with you. I am having my year and nothing you can say will stop me!" I exploded, throwing my arms up in frustration.

Izzy sidled up next to me and nodded in agreement, "I'm with Zaza on this one. I didn't get all psyched up about school for nothing." She placed her hands on her hips and stuck her chin up.

Eli glared at us both, his glamour half dropping thanks to his anger. His eyes flashed white and his wings momentarily appeared before he composed himself and gave a jerky nod. "Very well. I will discuss the matter with your fathers."

"Go ahead." Iz and I said in unison and gestured to the door.

Obviously unprepared for this Eli stood frozen for a moment.

The door burst open and Dylan sauntered in clad completely in leather and his signature cocky smile in place. "Well well well. Already fighting I see. What's it about this time?" he sang, raising an eyebrow at the three of us.

"These." Eli threw the schedules at Dylan who snatched them up.

"Seriously?" He rolled his eyes, "Sometimes I worry about you, Elijah. Look, Zaza has at least one of us in every class." He made a point of going through every subject that I had either Eli, Izzy or Dylan in my class and with each one Eli relaxed slightly.

"I still do not like it." he rumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well you don't have to." I huffed, "I'll see you in Math." With that I grabbed Izzy's arm and all but hauled her out.

"So much for an amazing first day." She sang, looping her arm through mine. "Where to first?"

xXx

When Math came around I made a point of sitting as far from Elijah as possible. He wasn't happy with the fact that he was in the front of the class while I was in the back but there wasn't much he could do about that since the class was full. I dropped down into the chair in the back corner of the room beside a petite blond girl.

She smiled hugely at me and before I even had time to open my mouth she'd already stuck out her hand. "Hi! I'm Danielle, you must be the new girl."

I took her hand, "Yeah. Zailiel but you can call me Zaza."

"Nice to meet you Zaza, that's a cool name by the way. Are you any good at Math? Cause I must inform you right now that I outright suck at it so I'm probably not going to be much help with, well, anything really." Her cheeks tinted a slight pink at the confession but the smile didn't disappear.

I chuckled, "I'm ok, I guess. I've never put that much effort into it." Understatement of the century. Pray tell, why on earth would I, Betrayer converter and world ender, need math?

She let out a breath and sank into her chair, "Phew. We'll get along just fine then."

We didn't have the chance to say anything more before a short pudgy man came in.

"Everyone turn to page 205 in your books." He ordered, tossing his briefcase onto his desk.

Ok, I have to admit, for my first ever official class I was more than a disappointed. I learned that I was actually pretty darn good at Math but that didn't mean I had to like it. In fact I spent the majority of the lesson passing notes to Danielle who eagerly turned her attention from Mr Khoury to reply.

"No way! Is there any place you haven't been? I'm massively jelling right now. So unfair that you travel so much." Danielle jumped up from her seat at the bell, her baby blue eyes wide in response to my admitting that I'd been just about everywhere around the world. Of course she thought we moved so much because of my dad's work. It was sort of true, she just didn't need to know that Da's job was killing Betrayers and saving Nephilim and Fallen.

I laughed, "It's not so much fun when you're homeschooled."

"Still, you've been everywhere. I've never even left the state." She shot a glance at Eli who was standing at the door waiting for me. "So who's he? He's been staring at you all period."

I groaned, "That's Elijah. He's my cousin and majorly over protective. We're all new to this whole school thing and I think he's waiting for me to get jumped or something. Ignore him and he'll eventually go away." I shot a glare at him which he ignored.

"Uh, ok." Danielle slipped passed Eli and I went to do the same when he reached for my arm.

"Do not do anything stupid." He growled before disappearing into the mass of students flocking the corridor.

"Could you point me towards Ms Hendry's class?" I asked Danielle as we joined the flow.

"Oh she's the very last class on the second floor. Come on, I'll show you. I have history which is right next door."

And so that is how my next two periods went. Iz was in my biology class while Dylan was in Science. As predicted Iz let slip her glow which kept getting brighter thanks to the positive attentions of the entire male student body. She'd already gathered about fifteen numbers and an invitation to audition for the school's major production. She spent the lesson going over in detail just how well stocked this school was on good looking guys. During biology there were quite a few more stares than in Math and even a few notes were passed. The whispers were plentiful by the time Science came along but I have a feeling most were about Dylan. Where Iz was all the talk amongst the guys, Dylan was all the talk amongst the girls. I swear I was surprised none had professed their undying love for him yet.

"Oh my god, Zaza, this was the best idea ever!" Iz squealed, all but running up to me. "Please don't hate me but I have to go audition for the MP, I'll make it up to you later though, ok? Bye!" I didn't even get the chance to get a word in sideways before she disappeared again. I frowned at the thought of spending lunch with Eli and Dylan but thankfully Danielle saved me from that torture by popping up beside me.

"Hey do you wanna sit with us at lunch?" her eyes were so large and hopeful that I couldn't have said no if I wanted to.

I smiled, "Yeah sure. Anything to get away from the family." The entire far wall of the cafeteria was made up of glass doors that opened up onto an expanse of lush green grass and trees for the hotter days. The majority of students had opted to sit outside but Danielle directed me towards one of the tables where a group of four people sat.

"Will if you say one more word I'm going to kill you!" a redheaded girl announced, pointing a carrot stick at the boy sitting across from her.

He let out a booming laugh, his dark eyes sparkling with glee, "Oh really? With what?"

The girl huffed and sat back, still glaring at him. "Aw come on Cammy, you know you love me." he cooed, leaning over to table

She smacked him with the carrot stick, "Back." She ordered.  
"Guys, cool it." one of the other boys sighed, lifting his eyes from the book he held.

His grey eyes went from me to Danielle then back to me where thy lingered.

The black haired guy, Will, followed Grey Eyes' stare and grinned. "Now what poor soul have you managed to drag into the lions den, Dani?"

"Don't scare her off, William." Another girl admonished, smacking at his arm.

Will scowled at her, "You know I hate it when you call me William." He grumbled.

Dani shook her head at them, "Ignore them, they mean well. Guys, this is Zaza. She's knew."

"No freaking duh." Will muttered, "I would've known if she'd been here before."

Dani shot him a glare. "Pig."

He pouted, "I didn't do anything!" he whined.

I laughed and took a seat as the banter continued to flow. Occasionally someone in the group would ask me a question or insist on my input in a certain debate but they didn't over do it with trying to include me. It felt good.

I learned that Grey Eyes was the bookworm of the group, not really a surprise, and that his name was Logan. The debate going on between Will and the redhead (Cameron) had been about her recent decision to turn vegetarian. The third girl, Cailee and Dani struck up a conversation about shopping during the weekend while Logan dove straight back into his book. All in all, lunch was very normal. Until a commotion started up by the door, however.

All eyes instantly gravitated towards the group and Cailee muttered a breathy "Uh-oh".

"Uh-oh? Why the uh-oh?" I asked Dani, poking her in the side to grab her attention. Her eyes left the four boys having a heated argument to settle on me. "See the big one? That's Trent. Self-proclaimed king of the school." She pointed to a hulking mass of testosterone towering over – ah come _on_! "I don't know the other one though. Is he with you guys too?"

"I'm going to kill him!" I hissed jumping up. My chair fell back and landed with a clang and I accidently swiped the nearest tray to the floor as I charged across the cafeteria where Dylan was smirking at Trent. I slipped easily between them, giving Trent a hard shove which almost made him fall over. He stumbled back a step, his hard face now an unflattering shade of red. "Listen here you overgrown lump of steroids because I am only going to. Say. This. _Once_." I closed the distance between us and glared murderously at him. I watched with satisfaction as his dull brown eyes flashed with fear which he quickly tried to cover up with anger, "Don't. Touch. My. Friends." I punctuated each word with a forceful shove until he ended up against the wall with me all up in his space and Elijah on one side and Dylan on the other.

Trent's eyes flickered to Dylan for a second and narrowed. "Go on." I hissed, "I dare you."

I stepped away and gestured for him to try it. The idiot took the opportunity to swing a punch at Dylan but it didn't have the chance to hit his face before I'd grabbed his shoulders, pulled him down and kneed him in the gut. I pushed him away, watching as he staggered while he tried to recover.  
"Oh come on, you can do better than that." I encouraged, offering a smile.

Confusion covered Trent's face a second before he launched himself at Dylan again who was now laughing so hard he clutched his sides along with the whole cafeteria. I used his own force against him as I swung my elbow out to connect with his nose.

"Shit woman!" He howled, his hands coming up to cover his nose that was gushing blood.

"Now I'll repeat myself because it's quite obvious that you're very slow. So much as blink at my friends funny and I will have no problem with getting you well acquainted with the floor. Understood? You should probably be warned that I don't make empty threats so tread with caution."

I whirled on Dylan and poked his chest, "And you! Stop provoking the damn humans!" I hissed, low enough that no one else could hear.

The entire cafeteria erupted into applause and I gave a deep bow before returning to Danielle and her friends.

Every single one of them gaped at me in utter shock and no one uttered a word as I picked up the tray I'd dropped earlier. "Sorry about that. Tomorrow's my treat." I gave Danielle a cheery smile which seemed to break their awe-struck stares.

"You just- and – oh my freaking god Zaza you should be sainted!" Cameron laughed.

Will cocked an eyebrow, "I don't think you can be sainted for violence, Cammy."

She shot him a glare, "Shut up and ear your bloody Murder Burger." She pointed with disgust at the beef burger sitting in front of him which he attacked with gusto making her wrinkle her nose.

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	6. Thank you

xXx

Izzy only found out about the cafeteria fiasco during History and she was about ready to bounce off her chair with excitement. "Why do I always miss the good stuff?" She groaned, flinging an arm over her eyes theatrically.

I snorted, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to record the next one on my phone lest you miss it."

She laughed and slung an arm over my shoulders, "Have I ever told you how much I love you, Zaza?"

I shrugged her off and eyed her suspiciously. "Whatever it is, no."

She gasped, placing her hand over her heart. "I'm hurt that you would think I would want something from my dearest friend when I say I love you!"

I didn't waver for a moment and she finally caved.

"Fine. You think you could work your hocus pocus on the drama teacher? She's a crazy old bat who wouldn't know talent if it hit her in the face. She's making me wait a week to find out the results for the auditions! Can you believe that?" she threw up her arms, sulking heavily.

I widened my eyes, "The nerve!"

"Exac – you are ever so cruel to me Zailiel." She grumbled, deflated completely now.

I laughed, "No cheating. If we're gonna do this whole school thing then we have to do it right. That means to hocus pocus – not even to speed things up a little. Alright?"  
"Alright." Izzy muttered sourly. "Why must you be so fair all the time?"

When the bell rang signalling the end of school I took my time packing up. I didn't feel like getting lost in the stampede again. Izzy bounced around the room looking at posters and shooting questions at me at a hundred miles an hour.  
"I think we need to get you checked out, Iz. It can't be normal for someone to talk so damn fast without taking a breath even amongst the supernatural. Who knows, they might name a newly discovered speech disorder after you!" I enthused.

Izzy gave a curtsy. "It is one of my abundant talents." She drawled, sticking her nose in the air and tottering out of class.

I caught up to her by the archway leading out of the school where she looped her arm through mine again. "So, who can I add to my growing list of contacts?" She sang cheerfully, whipping out her Hello Kitty covered cell. She presented it to me proudly, urging me to go through the twenty five new contacts she'd added during the course of the day.

"What happened to seeing enough humans during the night?" I mused, cocking an eyebrow playfully.

"Pfft, one can never have _too_ many contacts." She waved it off then got distracted by a group who I assumed were the drama kids. Se hauled me over towards them and introduced us. "Who do you reckon got Aphrodite?" Iz bounced up and down excitedly, "I bet it was you, Kelly, you've just got that look about you. Bet you'd make a stunning Goddess."

Kelly, a brunette with warm pretty features, blushed ten shades of reds and looked at her feet, "Thanks, Izzy. I think you'll get it, though. You practically knocked us all off our feet when you went up." The envy lining her words was diminished greatly by the awe and sincerity hanging there too.

No offense to Iz or anything, but I wasn't too interested in their drama talk so I let my eyes wander over the occupants of the parking lot. There were a few people still lingering but most had sped off at first chance. A group of three guys and one girl sat on the half wall surrounding the stairs happily chatting away. Another group hung around a beat up black truck near the bottom of the lot but they didn't look like they were completely there in mind. Besides that and our bikes there were no other cars. My attention was caught when someone else exited the school. A guy probably around my age walked swiftly passed with his hands shoved deeply into his hoodie and head ducked down. He was at least a head taller than me and considering I'm taller than most people that's saying something.

"Who's that?" I found myself asking no one in particular but suddenly all attention was fixed on the direction I was looking.

"Oh, him? That's Athen. He's sorta the school loner you know? Not all that involved with anything, really, unless you count the amount that guy reads." One of the girls says this with a shrug then jumped straight back into their guesses for the MP cast.

"Zaza! Iz! Get your butts moving, I don't have all day!" Dylan yelled from his perch on his dark red bike – helmet seemingly misplaced it seemed. Idiot.

I heard Kelly sigh dreamily, "He is _so_ gorgeous."

I rolled my eyes, "Trust me, he's the world's biggest douche."  
"Who cares?" Sandra giggles, "With looks like that and a kickass attitude? I'd do just about anything for him."

Thoroughly put out by them all now, I took my leave with Izzy following close behind after saying goodbye.

xXx

"Fluffball!" A familiar voice cried just as I came to a stop in the garage and a second later I'm pulled off my bike into a vicious hug.

I gasped for breath even as I laughed, wrapping my arms around Jason's neck. "Hey, I thought you were still in Peru until the end of the year?"

He lets me down but not without tucking me into his side, "Ha! Please, babe, we had them rooted out and rotting within a month. I don't care how much Angela loves the ruins there was no way I was staying there any longer than necessary." He announced, green eyes glinting.

"Natives I assume?" I guessed, thinking about all the other places we'd visited only to have the natives still in touch with their old lore figure out what, and in some cases, exactly _who_ we were. Da's had more offerings brought to him by devoted Shaman and the like than I could count. In the Nephilim's case they were still revered since they were the offspring of Angel's – in some religions gods – but the majority of the time they could steer clear of any attention. By the way Jase was describing his three month vacation to Peru to hunt down a faction of rogue Demons (With Lucifer's permission of course) he'd had more than one run in with the superstitious inhabitants.

"Ugh, overload. It was ridiculous. One of the mothers saw my scars and thought I was there to slaughter her family." He shook his head in irritation. I felt the usual pang of sadness for Jase when he referred to his scars. An imaginable pain inflicted upon him by bloodthirsty Betrayers Hell bent on making him suffer. They not only tore his wings from his back but broke every bone in them before hanging him by them for a week solid, each day re-breaking everything he had healed. Pure anger bubbled up and before I knew it my glamour had dropped and Jase was commenting on my eyes.

"Zaza, calm down before you blow us all up, ok? You're eyes are black holes right now." he gave my side a squeeze, his brows pulled down in worry.

I shook it off quickly, "I'm fine. So what did you do in Peru beside kick Demon butt and sight see?" I enquired as I took the stairs leading to the first floor two at a time.

Jase easily matched my pace and shrugged, "Eh, not all that much. Wasn't one of the more exciting excursions your old man's sent us on. What about you? I hear you an Iz have been causing trouble as usual."

I shoved his side, "Oh please, it's hard to cause trouble – well, your kind of trouble – when one is spending the majority of the day in High School."

"High school? You're in High school? Since when? How come you didn't say any of this in our last letter?" Angela suddenly popped up beside me, a pout clear in her Angelic features. Yeah, Angela was every painter/sculptor's dream when it came to capturing the essence of Angels. With her tumble of golden curls, porcelain skin and attentive blue eyes plus her slight frame and, of course, wings so white they looked like freshly fallen snow she was what every person envisioned an Angel to be.

I laughed at how affronted she sounded, "Nice to see you too, Ange. Calm down, we only started today so there wasn't exactly time for me to send a letter off to Peru."

She grinned hugely, "You have to tell me _everything_! _Mon Dieu_, how did you ever get Fang to agree to it?" her eyes widened in expectation, her hands clasped together before her and a massive grin in place.

Jase took this as his cue to leave and kissed Angela's forehead before disappearing into the Tracker Room.

"Angie!" Izzy's high pitched squeal stopped me from so much as opening my mouth. She launched herself at the older Nephilim and instantly they dissolved into incomprehensible babbling. Content with the fact that Izzy will relay every single minuscule detail of her day to Angela I head off in search of Da. He'd been mysteriously absent since the day before so I hadn't been able to say thanks for letting Iz and I go to school, even if we did have babysitters. I ended up by the Tracker room since that was where I'd seen Jason disappear and it was more than likely he was still debriefing about the Peru vacation. Sure enough when I enter the room there's my Da standing in front of the massive world map with glowing pinpricks of Fallen and Nephilim tears. That was how Da kept track of everyone. Whenever we found a new Nephilim or Fallen their tears were added to the board as a sort of connection to ensure that their locations were always known. Beside Da is Jason, pointing to various dots while Uncle Iggy occasionally comments on something. What with him being blind after torture at the hands of Betrayers just before my mom died he couldn't exactly take in the wall and constantly shifting tears.

"Hi, Uncle Iggy." I greet, giving him a hug.

"Hey, Zaza. Is my daughter home safe and sound? If not I think I might be forced to kill Xaphan."

I chuckle, "Don't worry, Izzy is still in one piece. She's gossiping with Angela right now. I just came to see my Da."

Both Jason and Da fell silent when I started talking to Uncle Iggy but not in that completely obvious we're-hiding-things-from-you-for-your-own-good kinda sudden silence.

"I guess we'll finish up later." Jason chirps and he and Iggy leave without another word.

"Did you enjoy school?" Da asks, cocking his head to the side. His comforting midnight eyes swirl with a mixture of curiosity and protectiveness.

In response I close the space between us and give him a hug. "Thank you." I mumble against his shirt.

He strokes my hair and grips me tight, "I love you, my little Angel." he whispers in such an agonised voice that tears sting my eyes.

"I love you too, Da."

'**Ello! Nyaw, what yah fink of the little Zaza/Fang moment there at the end? I think its cute. lol! So things will start picking up pretty soon, I swear it!**

**Reviews are still terrible. Tons of thanks to those who did review, I love you all, even if I had to bribe some of you with a preview from FTL. Haha!**

**I thought I'd also make a list of characters from FFY and new ones from here just so that everyone is on the same page:**

**Fallen Angels:**

**Lily – (Sofiel) Angel of Nature, Fell 420 years ago. **

**Fang – (Sandalphon) Angel of Power, Fell 18 years ago. **

**Iggy – (Harachel) Angel of Knowledge, Fell 70 years ago. **

**Haniel – Angel of harmonious love, Fell 15 years ago.**

**Nephilim:**

**Angel – daughter of Selene (Fang's best friend in Heaven who is now dead) age: 180-190**

**Zephyr – son of Selene, age: 190-200**

**Jason – Parents not specified yet age: 650-700**

**Mia – daughter of Danielle (Dead), killed in a Betrayer attack, life mate of Linden, age: 90-100**

**Linden – parents not specified as of yet, life mate of Mia age: 100-110**

**Ryder – Son of Sofiel/Lily, life mate of Saphron, age: 390-400**

**Israfel (Named after Angel of song, hence Dylan's reference to her as 'songbird')–Daughter of Iggy & Nudge, age: 16 **

**Micah – son of Iggy & Nudge, age: 4**

**Dark Nephilim:**

**Alexi – parents not specified as of yet, age: 1000**

**Saphron – parents not specified as of yet, age: 1000**

**Demons:**

**Dylan– (Xaphan), Angel of Invention turned Demon**

**Asmodeus – archdemon, Lucifer's right hand man**

**Immortals:**

**Tiffany (Nudge) – met Iggy in WW2**

**Christopher – attacked by Betrayers when Haniel Fell when Zaza was 3**

**Humans (that matter):**

**Athen **

**Danielle **

**William **

**Cameron **

**Logan **

**Cailee **

**Betrayers**

**Nisroc – once the Angel of Freedom, Betrayer leader, Chained in Hell awaiting his sentence.**

**Elijah– Once the Angel of Innocence turned Betrayer, converted by Zailiel**

**Others (They don't really belong in any one specific group): **

**Zailiel – Daughter of Max & Fang, Age: 18**

**Max – chained in Hell age: 43 (strange to think of Max as a 40 year old, lol!)**

**Ok, it's a massively long list but do you see why I had to have so many chapters just to introduce them all? Lol! Ok, I found that in FFY a lot of people were confused as to who characters were, what side they were one, which Angel they were etc. that it why I put up the list guys! I swear, if you go through all my Ans throughout FFY you'll see at least four, rehashing all of the characters and details. So please, don't ask me whose job is what/their Angel names or anything like that cause It. Is. All. Here! If you have questions about stuff that I haven't put up them I will gladly answer them, if not I will dismiss them as pure laziness to flip back a few chappies and check. I'll recap the list if/when I add other characters ok? **

**REVIEWS=LUV  
LUV=INSPIRATION  
INSPIRATION=UPDATES**

**Fangrules**


	7. Athen

xXx

The following morning we repeated the sequence. Izzy got me up extra early so that she could go through her entire wardrobe for something 'decent' for me to wear. After half an hour she finally settles on a cute red flowing top and once again a pair of dark skinny jeans which she pairs with a pair of neutral wedges. My hair I decide to braid to keep it out of the way. Izzy has more than enough fun fiddling with the waist length waves until the roots of my hair hurt and I'm about ready to poke out an eye.

"I would kill to have your hair, you know that?" Iz lectured me after one particularly harsh tug. "I'd love to be able to do the things I can to yours to mine but no, I am not blessed with such hair so you can stop your whining right now, missy, and let me enjoy myself."

I scowled, "You just enjoy inflicting pain on poor innocent me."

Izzy busted out laughing, "Oh yeah, sure. You've got me, Zaza. I get off on yanking on your hair."

"Are you done yet? You've been at it forever."

"Wait…" a second later she let go and clapped happily. "Perfect!"

Once again it was only Eli waiting for us in the garage; I didn't even bother enquiring about Dylan because I knew it was pointless. Like Eli said, he'd come when he was ready.

Once we arrived Izzy gravitated towards the MP group from the day before and I found myself with Danielle again. It was only her and Cameron that I found in front of the school doors.

"Class if gonna start in a few minutes and I have to run by my locker to fetch my books. I'll see you there?" Danielle said even as she walked through the doors.  
Cameron groaned, "I have Biology on the other side of the school. I better get going. See you, Zaza."

And just like that I was alone. Not that I particularly minded but I decided to head to math before I was late. I made my way to the doors only to have Izzy call my name.  
"Zaza! I can borrow your Bio book right?" She called across the lot, a massive grin on her face.

I rolled my eyes, "Depends on how nice you are to me." I replied, walking backwards to blow her a kiss.

"Sorry!" I gasped as my back collided with an unsuspecting person walking down the hall. I spun around at the sound of something heavy falling and bent to retrieve the thick brown book from the floor. It looked like it belonged in my Da's ever growing collection of ancient texts.

"No problem." A gruff voice, void of any irritation or anger replied. I lifted my eyes from the tomb to find the super tall guy from yesterday with his sandy hair dishevelled like he'd been sliding his hand through it repeatedly

"You're Athen, right?" I found myself saying before I could stop myself. His dark green eyes sparked with surprise for a moment, "Uh yeah, and you're Zailiel."

I shrugged and offered a friendly smile, sensing how tense he'd become since i hadn't just shoved the book back at him and walked off. "New girl syndrome, kinda sucks to have everyone know you're name before you can say a word. Makes introductions awkward."

He nodded but didn't say another word. He eyed the book in my hands like he was contemplating the nicest way to ask for it back.

I brushed my fingers over the faded title then held it out for him to take, "So what's this? Just a light piece of reading?" I was hoping to get something out of him other than a jerky nod or shrug and it seemed to work.

"You could say that. I have this huge History project to finish." He told me, taking the book back but surprisingly not moving an inch.

"What on? The Lock Ness monster? Cause I think that's about all you're going to find in _One hundred Scottish Myths and Legends_." I recited the title with what Izzy would call my 'know it all voice'. Now, I'm not too sure what that meant but it made him laugh which I was pleased about. Ok, so maybe laugh is a bit of an exaggeration, it was more of a soft chuckle.

"I haven't decided yet, hence the hulking mass of hundred year old book." He shoved it into his overflowing backpack before shrugging it back onto his shoulder.

I smiled, "Hey well if you don't find what you need just let me know. My Dad has a massive collection of old books and I'm sure some of them could be useful." All of them would, actually. Every single book detailed the lives of Fallen, Demons and Betrayers from the Original Fall when Lucifer was named King of Hell. But Athen didn't need to know that little tid-bit of information.

"Thanks…" He gave me an odd look as he shifted from foot to foot.

It took me a second to realise what it was: he was waiting for me to laugh at him and say never in a million years. Well that wasn't going to come out of my mouth so he better get used to it! I tried not to take offense for his quick judgement, I had to remind myself of the fact that every other person in this school –besides the teachers – ignored his existence.

The bell gave a shrill ring, signalling the start of the next lesson and effectively ending out little chat. "It was nice to meet you, Athen."

A crease appeared between his brows for a moment before it smoothed out and he offered a tentative smile, "You too, Zailiel."

I waved my hand in dismissal, "The only one that calls me that is my dad and only when I'm about to get in trouble. Call me Zaza." I insisted.

The spark appeared once more, "Yeah…yeah sure. Bye, Zaza." And with that we went our separate ways – little did Athen know I had every intention of speaking to him again, and soon.

xXx

The first week of school went by extremely quickly, I found myself growing more at ease surrounded by the humans each day – to the extent that I spent more time with my human friends than I did with the Nephilim. I could tell Da wasn't too happy about it but he didn't make as big a fuss as I expected. As long as I attended my daily training sessions with Eli, kept myself up to date as to what was happening in the Betrayer department and occasionally helping out when they needed me he mostly let me be. I hadn't been back to see mom but the main reason was because my visits to Hell were so unpredictable when it came to time that I couldn't risk being missing from school for a few days. School was everything I'd hoped it to be. I hung out with Danielle, Logan, Will, Cameron and Cailee during school and spent the weekends with Jason, Angela and the others Nephilim.

I was in total control, I told my human friends as much of the truth as I could when it came to delicate subjects such as what happened to my mom – as far as they knew she died during childbirth which was, to an extent, true. They knew I'd travelled all my life and that my dad ran an organisation that helped kids get out of trouble.

The Betrayers were oddly quiet with no attacks at all and had I not been so wrapped up in my little bubble I would have noticed how unsettling that was. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing more important than making sure my homework was done and having fun. Then things started to go wrong. Slowly, everything fell apart.

**Hi hi! Things are going to start happening soon! Hurrah! Lol! I've pretty much only just came up with a whole plot for this story – I tend to do that quite a lot. I'm trying to speed things up a bit because it's painfully obvious you guys aren't enjoying it all that much so far…**

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me all warm and fuzzy :-D**

**REVIEWS=LUV  
LUV=INSPIRATION  
INSPIRATION=UPDATES**

**Fangrules**


	8. It begins in more ways than one

I didn't see Athen for three days after our little hallway chat. I wasn't too concerned, I knew I'd bump into him again sometime – I just hoped not literally this time. Izzy wasn't really all that interested in the awkward loner I'd hopefully befriended, she was too wrapped up in preparing for the major production. Somehow she'd managed to pester the Drama teacher to the point where she finally cracked and posted the roles. Since she got a lead role I knew Izzy would cease to exist until it was over, instead she would be replaced by Athena, Goddess of War. I was not looking forward to it.

Athen turned out to be a little more evasive than I'd initially thought, expertly going about school unnoticed despite his height. It was when Izzy dragged me to the library to check out some books on the Greek Goddesses that I found him. He was browsing through the shelves an aisle over from our destination. While Iz rattled away random facts that she'd learned after her Google stint last night, I snuck off.  
"Fancy meeting you here." I said upon approaching.

His head snapped over to me and that crease appeared between his brows again.

"So how're the Scottish Highlands going?" I asked, leaning against the shelf.

A ghost of a smile appeared, "I'm afraid I don't think it's going to work out between Nessie and I."

"Poor girl." I grinned, "Are you always such a heartbreaker, Athen?"

He let out a noise that was half a laugh, half a scoff. "Yeah, that's me."

"Have you found a rebound yet?" I plucked the nearest book from the shelf, "_The Life and Times of an Exorcist_. What do you think? It could be kinda creepy."

He wrinkled his nose, "I think I'll stay away from poltergeists and the possessed."

I sighed dramatically, "You are so hard to please." I grumbled then added a wink." Ok then, no ghosts, no lake monsters and I'm taking you you're not too big on the fairies am I right? I'm afraid that leaves you with all the boring stuff." I said with a shrug, "Vamps, werewolves…"

"I'm not going near a bloodsucker or were with a bargepole." He sighed in defeat, "Who knew it would be so hard to find a decent mythical creature?"

I patted his arm sympathetically, earning the crease for a third time. "You'll find something."

"Zailiel Ride where the Hades are you?" Iz all but yelled making me wince.

"Hades, Iz? _Really_?" I groaned. It had begun. Cue ominous music.

"What?" She huffed, popping her head round the corner. "You know I'm method!"

"And geeze do I wish you weren't." I murmured but thanks to Nephilim perks she heard me just fine and pouted.  
I noticed Athen's awkward shuffling then, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Oh, sorry. Athen I'd like you to meet Israfel Griffiths. Iz, this is Athen."

Izzy's eyebrows shot up in disbelief before she smiled. "Athen, huh?" oh no, she had that look in her eye. It never ended well when she got that look in her eye.

He nodded, "According to the birth certificate."

She ggiled in response, "I'm trying to find some things on Athena, could you help?"

I rolled my eyes and turned to Athen who looked just about to bolt. "Ignore her. She gets a bit much sometimes." I explained.

"Hey!" Iz complained.

"You haven't even looked through one shelf, go make an actual effort."

She balked, "Have you _seen_ the size of this place? I'll be here all year!"

"If it's for the play then there's a copy of Homer's _Odyssey_ on hold at the front desk. Tell Miss Heath I said you could have it." Athen offered kindly.

Iz positively beamed, her glow even going so far as to slip through her glamour. After Elijah hounded her about it she'd kept a tight leash on it. "Seriously? You're amazing, thanks!" With that she skipped off to go get it, her brown tresses flowing behind her.

"Thanks for that." I smiled, "I promise once you get to know her she's not so…"

"Intense?" Athen offered with his own smile.

I chuckled, "That about sums her up. It was nice seeing you again, Athen. Don't make me wait another three days just so say hi." With that I said goodbye and went after Izzy.

I caught up with her by the front desk where, sure enough, the Odyssey was on hold. While Miss Heath busied herself with finding it Izzy bounced up and down on the spot, positively bursting with excitement. "He's so cute!" She gasped, grabbing my shoulders and giving me a shake, "In a totally geeky way but he's rocking it. Did you see those eyes? They're a-ma-_zing_! And the glasses _so_ add to the hotness there. Cheese, woman, why do you always get the smokin' hot one? It's completely unfair."

I gaped at her, "Iz, have you hit your head? How many numbers have you got since we started? And besides, last time I checked you had no interest in the geeky loner."

"Oh, I am very interested in the geeky loner." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, effectively making burst out laughing.

Miss Heath interrupted us by popping up with the Odyssey, a cheery smile in place. "You girls have a good day!" She chimed.

"You think she heard us?" Izzy loudly whispered.

I rolled my eyes, "Iz, I love you, but we need to practice the whispering ok?"

She stuck her tongue out at me and snatched the book off the counter.

xXx

Five days later I was sitting quietly in English when the receptionist, Mrs Duncan, came tottering into the class with a stack of papers in arm.

Mr Grey – most called him the Mummy since everyone wondered at the fact that he was still alive – continued to drone on, completely oblivious to the woman's entrance. Finally, after waiting a minute and shooting disapproving looks at the kids who snickered, Mrs Duncan cleared her throat to get his attention.  
He snapped out of his Shakespeare induced daze and blinked up at Mrs Duncan stupidly. "Why hello, Louise. What a pleasant surprise." He fiddled with the glasses sitting askew on the tip of his nose as he spoke.

"I'm here for Zailiel Ride, if you wouldn't mind me stealing her." At the mention of my name everyone turned to look at me but I paid them no mind. I had worse things to fear than the receptionist.  
We stepped out into the hall after I packed up my stuff and Mrs Duncan thrust one of the numerous papers towards me. I took it hesitantly and read through it. A schedule? I raised my eyebrows at Mrs Duncan in question.

"An opening in AP English has appeared, Miss Ride. Mr Grey has spoken to you about moving, has he not?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he's mentioned it."

"Good. Unfortunately this means your whole schedule has shifted and you should in fact be in–" She peered down at her own papers, "AP history right now, if I am not mistaken. Off you go then, don't want you to be any later than you already are." She shooed me off before spinning on her heel and marching off.

I shook my head. Well, Izzy wasn't going to be happy with the fact that I was no longer in her biology class. Ugh, and Eli. He was going to be furious when he found out…  
I located Mrs Wilson's history class ten minutes later – it was as far away from my next class as possible which annoyed me. I tentatively knocked on the door and entered the cosy classroom after hearing a cheery 'come in'.

There were only six people in the whole class and all of them were ticking away at laptops, bobbing their heads to music or reading. Wow…it really didn't look like much work would get done around here…

"You must be Zailiel!" Mrs Wilson all but smothered me with the massive hug she gave me. "What a pleasure to have you join us. Why don't you have a seat and take out some work to do? The others are preparing for their next assignment. I'm sure you can keep yourself busy until everyone has presented next week." Mrs Wilson prattled on with a massive grin. "I expect you to keep busy in the mean time. Do you think you could manage that?"

I smiled, "Yeah."

"Good. Good." She ushered me off to take a seat as she returned to her desk.

I let my eyes run over the occupants of the small classroom, noting how not a single person had so much as looked up at my arrival.

I recognised Logan sitting to the far right so I started off towards him when I caught sight of a familiar mop of blond hair. My smile grew three sizes as I changed my destination to the back of the class where he sat bent over a notepad, scribbling away.

I dropped my bag with a thump on the open chair beside him, causing his head to shoot up.

His dark green eyes flickered with surprise at the sight of me.

"Mind if I sit?" I asked, biting back a smile at the confusion that painted his features.  
He hastily nodded, "Uh-yeah. Sure." He swept the handful of books that took over the desk into his bag to clear some space.

While he packed the books away I let my eyes wander over the notes he'd been taking, curious as to what myth he'd decided on. In small letters scribbled across the top of the page – almost indistinguishable thanks to the mess of his writing – was the word Angel. I swear every muscle in my body tensed up in that second and my eyes flashed to Athen in panic, Did he suspect something? Had I been careless somehow? Could he tell I wasn't quite normal? Was Izzy's glow what tipped him off? All of these questions and a dozen more whizzed through my mind and a sick feeling settled in the base of my stomach. When Athen glanced at me, though, with the barest traces of a shy smile on his face I knew he didn't suspect a thing. It was just a coincidence.

I relaxed and pulled my notepad from my bag, fully intending to finish off my maths homework. That didn't last long, however, because I finished it all in ten minutes and whizzed through every other subject so that I was left with an hour to kill with nothing to do. Thoroughly bored out of my mind after a further five minutes I concentrated on what Athen was reading. _Archangel's Metatron and Sandalphon are said to be Holy Men who, after passing into Heaven having lived lives filled with preaching the Word of God, were honoured by joining the Angelic ranks._ I couldn't help it, a bubble of laughter escaped me making Athen look over at me curiously.

"What?" he whispered, pen poised midsentence.

I bit my lip to stop from laughing again, "You don't seriously believe that do you?" I gestured to his pad.

He leaned back in his chair and shrugged, "I don't know. I'm not really the religious type to who knows? Besides, I've found the same thing in more than one source." He jerked his head to the books he'd packed away earlier.

I snorted and waved it off, "Oh please, a holy man becoming an Angel? That is the most retarded thing I've ever heard." The thought of Da and his twin brother spreading the Word was more than I could cope with and I dissolved into giggles which I attempted to smother with my hand.  
It was contagious, apparently, because soon Athen was laughing too, though he had the decency to do it silently. After a few minutes and more than one irritated look from the other students we managed to get ourselves under control.

There was a sparkle in Athen's green eyes that hadn't been there before and I came to the conclusion that it suited him. "Ok, then, since you know so much how did they become Archs?"

I shook my head. "Metatron was an arch since the beginning. Trust me, there was no holy man business. Sandalphon though, he's a very recent addition to the Archs." I explained. Yep. He joined exactly eighteen years ago.

"Really?" Athen mused, flipping open a book to find the line he was looking for. "Then how come I have recordings of him as an Archangel for over two thousand years?"

I shrugged. "Simple. Humans are stupid."

He chuckled, "How so?"

"When the Angel's on Lucifer's side Fell from Heaven a whole group of Angels came down to fight them. The humans naturally took that group to be the most powerful since they were fighting even and dubbed them the Archs. Hence why there's some discrepancy about who exactly the Archs are. Different people and cultures give different names."  
He nodded with an impressed expression, "Any other words of wisdom?"

"Yeah, look up Xaphan. I think you'll like him." I advised, thinking of the pain in the ass Demon that was currently terrorising the student body. "He did want to set fire to Heaven."

The rest of the hour passed quickly with me giving Athen my 'opinion' on all things Angelic. I enjoyed his reactions to what I had to say immensely so by the time the bell rang Athen had a full two pages of information I'd told him and he was busy grilling me on the concept of Angels having no free will.

"Where did you get all of this? Seriously, Zaza, none of the books I've searched have anything like this."

I smiled, "Lets just say mydadisn't too interested in the usual books. I'll see if maybe I can lend you one. You know, for research purposes."

He ducked his head, the smile not having left his face all hour, "If it's ok I'd love that. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime." I threw my bag over my shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow, Athen." I headed to the door but paused when I reached it. Before I could change my mind I spun around and, still chewing on my lip, voiced had what flashed through my mind seconds before. "Iz and I are going out with a few friends on Friday. Do you wanna come?"

Athen stopped his packing to blink up at me in shock. His glasses really did suite him. He cleared his throat as he straightened up, "Where to?"

"Donna's as far as I know. We might head out somewhere else later.

The crease was his reply.

"Come on, it'll be fun. You need to get out a little more. It's not like a formal gathering or anything. We'll probably play a few games of darts or something as equally as lame."

Looking very unsure Athen nodded, "Ok."

I beamed. For some reason I was much more eager for Friday to come by now. "Great. We're meeting there at five." I rocked back on my heels then crossed the room to grab his hand. I plucked a pen off the desk and scribbled my number across his palm. "Let me know if you can't make it." I released his hand, my own curling into a fist at my side as the tingling sensation that had zinged through my arm lingered. Did he feel that or was I just imagining it?

He sifted a hand through his hair, "I will."

Awkward silence hung thickly between us, neither wanting to leave but unsure what to say.

"Thanks, Zaza." He finally said. His eyes locked with mine.  
For some unknown reason I found myself blushing. IN an effort to cover it up I raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

He shrugged, "For being you I guess."

xXx

"Rafi!" Micah squealed from his position hanging upside down, his chubby cheeks a bright pink and his sky blue eyes bright with happiness. He let out a peel of laughter and wriggled about in an attempt to get Izzy to put him down, his downy white wings spread out around him.

"Sorry, short stuff. You are going right to bed. No way am I getting in trouble with dad for letting you stay up." Izzy shook her head and, still holding Micah by the ankle, carried him off to his room which joined to Aunt Nudge and Uncle Iggy's.

"But Rafi!" He whined, attempting to reach for her arm. "I not tired, Rafi." He said simply pouting at his sister then squeaked when she chuckled him in his bed.

"Yeah you are," I knelt down beside the bed to grab his attention and sure enough his blue eyes widened and his pupils dilated.

"No fair." He slurred, his eyelids drooping and a yawn escaping him. in a second he was out like a light, sprawled across his bed with his wings tucked securely against his back.

"Thanks." Izzy sighed in relief, collapsing onto the rocking chair in the corner. "Ugh, I didn't think he'd ever get to sleep." She tossed an arm over her eyes dramatically. "Though I do have to wonder why you have no problem playing with my brother's little four year old mind but you won't get Mr Gilles to extend that blasted Bio project an extra two days."

"No cheating, Iz, remember?"  
"Cheese you are such a goodie-two-shoes sometimes!" She whined, peeking out from beneath her arm.

I grinned, "It's why you love me!"

There was a loud thump from out in the hall which instantly caught our attention, making both of us tense.

"Tracker room! Now!" Dylan roared, banging on every door he passed.

Instantly Izzy and I were rushing out into the hall, closely followed by Alexi, Ryder, Angela and Jason.

There was an air of confusion and expectation hanging around us. We were all thinking one thing: Betrayers. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of having to give up school and my friends but I quickly shoved them to the back of my mind. Now wasn't the time to be sulking over humans, something was wrong.

Everyone burst into the Tracker room where Da, Haniel, Lily, Iggy and Elijah were already assembled, all wearing sombre expressions, increasing the tension.

"What's going on? Have they found us?" I demanded, marching across the room to shoot my questions at Da.

"No." he said simply, locking his black as midnight eyes with mine. Not a single star hung in the impenetrable depths. Yes, something was terribly wrong. "It is Saphron."

In a matter of seconds it was chaos, Ryder and Alexi were pushing forward, demanding to know where she was while Uncle Iggy attempted to calm them down. Dylan and Jason grabbed hold of Alexi while Elijah and Angela restrained Ryder, shoving them against the wall.  
"Enough!" Da boomed above the noise that filled the room as more and more people filed in.

Everyone fell silent, even Ryder and Alexi stopped fighting their restraints to listen. Da just had that kind of control. His glow was virtually non existent and his eyes smouldered. "She has fallen ill."

Not a single person uttered a word, the shock, fear and confusion were palpable. Ill. That wasn't a word in the Nephilim dictionary. They didn't get sick. Only the ones who were more human than Angel got sick but Saphron was most definitely not one of those. She was a thousand years old for goodness sake!

I could feel the blood draining from my face as my hands curled into fists. "Ill?" I choked out around the thick lump in my throat.

He regarded the whole room as he spoke clearly and sorrowfully. "She will not outlast the night."

"No." Was all Alexi could mutter, his eyes wide with shock.

xXx

Da was right. Saphron didn't live long enough to see the sun rise. Everyone crowded in her room, sitting on every available surface, holding each other, laughing at fond memories and in lower tones asking how it was happening. She didn't look sick, actually she looked quite normal. She'd completely lost the warm glow that had always surrounded her and green eyes were no longer the crisp colour of leaves after a rain. Her beautiful honey coloured wings were wilting, feathers littering the bed which everyone cleared away. Then she started to get tired. It was becoming harder for her to breathe. She spoke in whispers because the strain of raising her voice was too much. And she let all of this happen with a smile. We could all see it: she knew she was going to die. Some of us, however, chose to ignore that completely. Alexi and Ryder clung to her side, constantly touching her in some way and speaking softly. Ryder's eyes were filled with sunlight tears as he murmured comforting words into Saphron's inky hair. She was his life mate and when she passed he'd become like Linden after Mia's death. Cool. Detached. Silent.

About an hour before sunrise Saphron pushed her life mate and twin brother aside and opened her arms for Izzy and I. We held each other, crying, at the base of her bed. Instantly Izzy and I wrapped our arms around her, Izzy shaking with the force of her sobs.

Death…death wasn't something easily accepted by the Fallen and Nephilim. In so many cases it had been – and occasionally still was – the true end.

No Heaven. No Hell.

Complete oblivion.

The death of the soul.

We cried until we couldn't cry anymore, until we dissolved into dry heaves in an attempt to breathe. When Izzy and I slid away to allow Alexi and Ryder back to their rightful places it happened. Her eyes fluttered shut and she moved no more. Her chest no longer lifted with each breath, her unnaturally pale fingers loosened their grip on the blanket. Her smile lingered.

In one smooth move Da pushed forward and, forcing Alexi and Ryder aside, plunged the thrumming silver sword into her chest – ensuring her a place in Heaven.

xXx

None of us went to school for the next week. It wasn't exactly on the top of my list of priorities after Saphron. Every able body – with the exception of Aunt Nudge since she was a beached whale by that point – threw themselves into piecing together the cause behind Saphron's sudden death. Everyone had different theories, some, in their bitterness turned against everyone causing fights and the hasty departure of Alexi. There was, however, one thing we could all agree on. Saphron's death was most definitely _not_ an accident.

**Aaaand here we go! haha! I know, most of it isn't really important but the plot actually starts now. i promise. so how did you find the end piece there?good or no? I hope you enjoyed it! Please up on the reviews, guys,it's majorly irritating when i wake up in the morning to check my inboax aaaaand...there's 1. makes me kinda pissy. Actually really pissy. **

**what i dont get is that everyone was so excited when they heard about the sequeal and now no ones reviewing?seriously?WTH?**

**IF i get an actually decent review count from now on i swear i will devote an entire chapter to faxiness. Yes i know that's the major issue, people want fax and dont really like OCs but i think i'm doing a pretty damn good job here so its a little insulting. i'm trying to keep my characters fresh and not totally cliche so that it isn't like reading a crap OC story.**

**SO, **

**REVIEWS=FAX**

**FAX=HAPPY READERS**

**HAPPY READERS=HAPPY AUTHOR**

**there we go then. **

**My abundant thanks to: Serenaisbestezrq387- we shall be finding out soon;-)**

**BOOKi- thanks, i like Athen too.i think he's sweet :-D We'll find out more about him next chapter i promise.**

**BCK-forever - LOL, well done on that really far fetchedguess there ;-P. teehee. MP - Major Production**

**Yep. that's it *insert displeased scowl aimed at everyone reading this who's NOT on that list. **

**REVIEWS=LUV**

**LUV=INSPIRATION**

**INSPIRATION=UPDATES**

**Fangrules**


	9. Memories and breaks

It felt strange gathering with everyone in the Tracker room each morning only to find two open spots where Alexi and Saphron always sat. Ryder, who I had expected to leave after what happened ended up throwing himself completely into research. Christopher, Haniel's immortal, was a mortician before all the Angel craziness and examined Saphron's body for any clue as to what killed her. He found nothing.

That morning was no different than the others; I woke up, hastily changed and made my way to the Tracker room where Da was already deep in discussion with Ryder. Almost everyone had arrived already but we had less than a third of the amount of Nephilim hanging around than usual. Da spread them out amongst the other safe-houses because if this was indeed a disease (as Christopher strongly suspected due to the lack of flesh wounds to Saphron besides where Ezekiel's sword had entered her) he wanted as few people as possible around to contract it.

I dropped down in my chair beside Izzy who was tinkering with her phone and stared up at the tears. My fingers bounced on the arm of the chair as I thought. We were missing something. Something vital that I felt was right in our face but what? Who was doing this? The Betrayers? Possible, there had been less attacks than usual…but why this way? Surely they would know that we'd scatter? They couldn't hope to get all of us, could they? Dizziness took over me and I quickly had to grab hold of the chair to stop myself from falling.  
"Zailiel!" Da was suddenly at my side, his arms enveloping me, keeping me locked to him. "Zaza? Look at me." he tipped my chin up a little more roughly than he intended as his hands flitted over me, trying to find any damage.

I opened my mouth to tell him to stop worrying so much but caught sight of the pure dread in his eyes. It was exactly how I imagined Da to look when they told him about Mom.

"Oh, Da." I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "I'm fine. I swear, I'm fine. I just…need a little break. I'm going to go see mom, ok?"

"Take your time." he whispered, stroking my hair. "But do not come back here."

I froze completely, not grasping what he said.

"What?"

His eyes flitted across the room, landing momentarily on Izzy and Uncle Iggy before returning to me. His lips were set in a grim line and his eyes were starless. "Listen to me, Zailiel. It's not safe for you here. This…whatever it is will be treated as an extreme threat until we know more and I cannot have you in danger. I need to know you are away from all of it, safe. Xaphan and Elijah are going to take you and Izzy to the north house. You are going to stay there until we can be sure of what we're dealing with."

I shoved him away, my hands shaking from my anger and hurt. He wanted me to leave? He honestly expected me to just behave and walk away like he told when _I'd watched a woman I'd grown up with die_? "No." I hissed, glaring at him. "I agree with Izzy but I am not being kept out of this. You _know_ you're all easy pickings without any of us here! I don't care if I might die because news flash Da I've lived with that every damn day of my life and I won't let you stop me from protecting the people I love which includes you!" I could feel it rising inside me, the other part that I had to be very careful to control. It was what made me such a threat and an asset. It was what destroyed my mother.

Da saw it coming and calmly gathered me in his arms again, despite my struggles. "Angel." he said tenderly, like he used to when I was small, "This isn't just about keeping you out of the way." He reached to pull my left wing closer for me to examine.

I cringed at the sight of eerie black light that I knew equally drew everyone in and repelled them. I was too close to the edge. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on calming myself down before I lost it.

"You were right. You need a break. After everything that has happened…I know you take responsibility though we both know there is nothing any of us could have done. Your emotions are unstable right now and we need to make sure that you are in control. Go with Xaphan and Elijah. Don't worry about us, we'll manage without them. Stay with Izzy and go back to school, enjoy yourself. When you are one hundred percent sure that you can handle everything then come back and hopefully by then we will have some answers for you or maybe even a solution."

I opened my mouth to protest even though I knew he was right. It was a very bad idea for me to be surrounded by volatile emotions given my own emotional state.

He kissed my forehead, "I'm not asking, Angel. I'm telling you."

xXx

Something was different this time. I looked around the desert surrounding me, felt the heat seep into my bones to add to the residual warmth from the fire. I waited for a moment for Mom's usual greeting but when it didn't come I grew unsettled. Mom never stayed away.

"Mom!" I yelled, my voice carrying easily over the vast expanse of desert surrounding me.

Nothing but the echo of my own voice came back to me. Now close to a full out panic attack my wings whipped out and I dove into the sky, determined to find where she'd concentrated her soul. She knew I was there, I was sure of it. It was impossible for her not to since she surrounded me. So why hadn't she manifested herself? My skin prickled with unease as I scanned my surroundings, taking in the clear blue sky without a cloud in sight. The sun hovered directly above, beating down relentlessly on me. A handful of mountains hung in the distance made of the same orange rock that covered every inch of the desert. I don't know how long I flew for but by the time I managed to make out the small rectangular building jutting from the ground every muscle in my body ached. I knew it had been more than a few hours because I didn't tire easily and I was about ready to collapse from exhaustion by that point. With the building came more than three dozen dots around it. Upon closer inspection I could identify the irregular shapes as Angels – no, not just Angels. I squinted try and make out the clash of people only to have a violent flash of heat knock me off balance. I struggled to correct myself in time to stop the inevitable crash with the ground but failed miserably, tumbling down into a heap. My side hit first, my hip landing painfully on the rocks which dug into my wings and arms as I tumbled over. I hastened to stand up and take stock of the situation only to freeze at the sight of the new addition to the group. Lucifer was the only one left standing in the centre of the cacophony with a limp form in his arms. Power seeped from his imposing figure, his massive fiery wings spread around him and his eyes a smouldering black fire. I didn't dare look to what he was holding, dread seeping further into my bones the longer I stood there.

"I gave you _one_ _simple instruction_, Xaphan. Protect the girl no matter the cost but it seems you have become too vain for self-sacrifice." He hissed, laying the figure in his arms carefully on the glass at his feet, "I warned you of the coming events, she shared her dreams with you and yet you still failed." Instantly his eyes shifted from black to fiery red as he set them on the Demon he spoke to who was standing from his position fifteen feet away where he'd been thrown during the blast.

"You hardly gave me anything to work with." Defiantly Dylan crossed his arms over his chest, displeasure clearly written across his features. Shuffles surrounded me as more and more of those left got up and gravitated into groups.

All except for three. I picked out Da as he crossed to where Zephyre kneeled with yet another prone form in his arms, the tumble of familiar golden curls adorning her head unmistakably Angela's. I watched in stunned horror as Da forced Zephyre aside – much the same as he'd done to Alexi and Ryder after Saphron's death – and plunged the sword into Angela.

"Zaza." I came undone at the sound of mom's voice, finally manifesting beside me.

I choked back a sob as I continued to watch the memory play out before me. Da heatedly demanded Lucifer's reasons for being present, something not even the Arch's would have dared – not with such vehement animosity.

Mom laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, urging me to tear my eyes from where they had drifted.

She lay in the exact position Lucifer had laid her in, her hands resting on her abdomen and her tumble of dark brown hair splayed around her peaceful features. Her familiar white and brown speckled wings lay twisted at odd angles and emanated a steady dark light that seemed to suck the very energy out of the air.

"Zailiel." Mom said again, more firmly this time. She reached up and turned my face away, her face warm and loving and sorrowful.

I didn't bother trying to stop the tears coursing down my cheeks nor how my hands shook. Instead pushed away from her and approached the empty shell that had once been my mother. "That's going to be me." I whispered, brushing my fingers over her eyelids. I knew what lay behind them; empty white depths like Eli's.

This was the transition that my mom had undergone during those minutes where Da and Dylan forced their energies into her. This was what constantly clawed at me, begging to be set free.

"No, Zaza. Your father won't let that happen. You're loved by too many people for this to happen to you." Mom hushed, kneeling beside where I sat beside her memory self.

My anger flared, "They all loved you too and that didn't stop it." I snapped, "There's no point in denying it, Mom, it will happen sometime." Disgusted with what lay hidden inside – what more often than I cared to admit broke through – I looked away only to have my eyes land on Da and the Archs surrounding him now. "It's too close to the surface not to. I just have to get angry and it comes out. I don't think I can control it anymore."

She laid an arm around my shoulders as the scene dissolved, "Don't worry, honey." She crooned, urging me to lay my head on her shoulder.

"That's how you see Da, isn't it?" I whispered, my heart clenching as I glanced up to find him still there, in his arms a squirming bundle that I knew was me. "Your memories."

She sighed wistfully in response. "This isn't my memory, it's Lucifer's. He shared it with me just before he brought you to me the first time."

Da turned to us then, his eyes shining with love as he came over, his arms empty of my manifested self.

"Max." He reached out for Mom, a radiant smile that I knew would only ever grace his face at the sight of her spread across his face. She held her hand out for him to take but just before his fingers brushed hers his disappeared into nothing.

"Can't you touch?" I asked, sitting up to speak. Something about how quickly she'd made him leave struck me as odd.

"Of course I can." She ran her fingers over the lush green grass we now sat on to emphasise her point. Her chocolate eyes burned with longing as she spoke, "But I will not let myself get lost in something that isn't real. If I do then I'll warp the memory I have of him and I won't stand for that. I won't replace the Angel I love with a simple manifestation that I know will never come close to him." she curled a lock of my hair around her finger, "Your father and I may have had only a short amount of time together, Zaza, but I'll treasure every moment for eternity."

An idea struck me then and I berated myself for not suggesting it earlier. I'd told Mom just about every detail of my life on earth but I'd never thought to show her. If Lucifer could conjure his memories… then why couldn't I?

I shut my eyes and pulled up a memory, something that came as close to seeing Da happy as I'd seen.

I felt our surroundings shift, heard a new set of noises float through the air and knew I succeeded.

Mom sucked in a breath beside me and when I opened my eyes it was to her hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes misty with tears.

My memory self let out a gleeful giggle as Da tickled me relentlessly on my dark blue bed. My first big bed, in the Second World War fort where I'd spent the first few years of my life.

"Da! No! Unfair!" The manifested little girl cried, struggling out of the grip of my grinning father. She scrambled across the bed with her wings curled around her, to protect her sides from the attack.

"Why, Angel, I'm never unfair." He chuckled, his arm snapping out to scoop Little Me up to plop me in his lap.

Suddenly sober Little Me cast a glance at the chest at the base of my bed – the same one that fifteen years later still remained in my room, only now with a second to accompany it – and chewed on her lip a moment. "Da?" She chirped, setting her doe eyes on him.

He smiled down at her adoringly, "Yes, Angel?"

"You gonna see Momma." She announced with such an air of finality that it made a laugh burst from Mom through her tears.

Da's features sank but he tried to keep his sadness from showing, "No Angel. I'm not."

Little Me nodded insistently, "Uh huh. I seed Momma so you can too. Pwomise. Don' be sad, Da. Momma don't like when you sad." She patted his hand reassuringly. "Wanna wear my neckwace?" she asked, pulling the oval locket from around her neck.

Da stopped her from removing it, "You promised Momma not to take it off, remember?"

She shook her head as if she couldn't believe how silly he was being, "Momma is fine wif it." then before he could stop her she placed it over his head. "Now you smile."

And he did, grabbing her in a tight hug which she easily sank into.

The memory dissipated leaving us on the grass again. Mom gave me a wobbly smile. "Thank you, Honey."

xXx

"No way are you getting the biggest bedroom." I slipped passed Dylan and all but ran up the stairs to my usual room, the first door after turning right. I threw my bags onto the brown bed and punched the air. "Oh yes! Izzy!" I yelled, "Which–" I was cut off by Izzy slamming the door across the hall, claiming the other only bedroom with en suite.

"Sorry boys!" She chimed, poking her head out into the hall.

Dylan skulked passed with his bags in hand and a sour expression on his face. "You are so irritating." He grumbled. "This better not last long." With that we all went our separate ways, I spent the rest of the afternoon on my bed with two pads of paper and thick books scattered around. Da would kill me if he found out I'd taken them.  
Right then I honestly couldn't care less if Da went a little nuts, there was no way in hell I was just going to sit around doing nothing while the people I cared about were in trouble. Well, more trouble than usual. I flipped over another of the thick detailed pages – probably from about the first century – and quickly scanned the length of it for anything that stood out. when I found a phrase I thought could help I scribbled it on my pad and went on to the next page. This continued for the rest of the night. I managed to work my way through half of one of the massive tombs before sunrise and filled one pad with information. I rubbed my eyes hard and squinted down at my writing. I scowled at the sight of the messy handwriting and ridiculous words. Ugh. I'd definitely done enough for now. I had to get some sleep before we had to leave for school.

I didn't even bother moving the books from my bed because I knew there wasn't time and I was just too tired to do it. I flopped back on my pillow and almost instantly drifted off to sleep.  
"ZAZA! GET UP!" a high pitched screech in my ear woke me up what seemed like minutes later.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed at the lump of Nephilim currently bouncing on my bed. "We're gonna be late! Come on, I know you wanna see your Geek God – awesome pun there huh? What can I say, I know I'm amazing. So get up now before I drag you there by your fingernails! Do you realise how much valuable time I've lost not practicing for the Major Production? This could be drastic, Zaza! No one is going to know what to do! Oh my cheese, that's it. I have to go. For the good of the humans. It would be immoral for me to just leave them to bumble along and screw it up. Yep, you definitely have to get up."

I cracked open an eye, intent on politely asking her to get the hell off of my bed to let me sleep only to find a large smile on her face. I paused before the words left my lips. Since this was the first time I'd seen her smile in over a week I was a little hesitant to break her happy mood. That's when I realised just how much Izzy needed this. She needed to worry about stupid homework problems and boys and what outfit she was going to wear next. I don't know how I'd missed it but after Saphron's death I'd seen something shift in my best friend. Like she was completely at a loss as for what to do next. I couldn't blame her for wanting to escape, to forget where we came from and why we were here but the difference was that now I understood that I could run all I wanted…I'd always end up right in the thick of it again while Izzy had a chance. She could actually leave right now and never look back. I couldn't deny her this distraction, especially when mere days before I'd sought it so desperately myself.

So, like the dutiful best friend I whined and gave her a hard time but eventually caved and climbed into the shower to get ready for school.

xXx

It felt so very wrong to return to school after all that had happened when not a single thing there changed in the human world. I didn't know how to act around anyone, needing to keep them all at a distance lest I somehow manage to rope them into the crazy Angelic life. I saw them all in a new light that day, realising for the first time just how truly impossible it was for me to even pretend to be one of them. Because I wasn't.

I was there to destroy them. Mom's memory had only reinforced that fact.

Izzy, however, dove right back into her routine. She sped off towards the drama group leaving me with Eli – who had yet to say a word to anyone since we left the main safe house the day before – and, of course, Dylan. I'm sure they both took great joy in making me uncomfortable since they looked about ready to jump anyone who so much as took a step in our direction. I hated it when they were on high alert – it meant I would be shadowed every second of every day until the threat was neutralised.

Thankfully it was Danielle that decided to save me from their attentions and braved the wrath of Demon and Betrayer to call me over to her group.

I all but ran towards them, grateful to be free of my protectors' attentions even for a few moments. I didn't participate as actively in their conversations as I thought they expected – especially since Logan kept glancing at me weirdly.

"Are you ok?" He eventually asked, his cool grey eyes sceptical.

I nodded distractedly, "Yeah. Fine." Thankfully no one pressed it but by the way they all kept shooting concerned glances at me I knew it wouldn't be long before someone cracked. The conversation flowed around me as they all tried to cheer me up but I couldn't bring myself to pay attention. This changed, however when Will waved a hand in front of my face. "Whoa, you really are out of it today, huh?"

"William!" Cailee jumped in to give him a shove, "You are so incensitive!" She hissed, "Her cousin died, of course she's out of it now leave her alone."  
Ah. So that's what Aunt Nudge told the school. Well, at least I didn't have to keep up appearances then.

"Sorry, Zaza." Cameron said apologetically.

"Thanks." I muttered, my mind now on the opposite end of the lot where a familiar – and welcome – person was making his way towards the main building.

"Oh great, we're gonna get ditched for the Geek." Will groaned after following my line of sight, throwing his head back dramatically.

And a new round of berating started from the girls which I took as my cue to leave.

I caught up with him just as he came up to the building. His dark green eyes locked with mine before I could even open my mouth in greeting. Something in their depths had my breath catching in my throat, halting any words that I'd hoped to utter.

"Hey." A small, lopsided smile tipped at his lips.

I managed to snap out of my little moment and offered a smile in return. "Hey. Sorry about last week, I know I should have let you know that Friday was cancelled but…"

He shrugged it off, "Its fine, I heard what happened. I'm sorry about your cousin." Tenderness softened his features, understanding shining in his eyes.

I suddenly found myself very interested in the floor, fighting a very unnerving urge to reach out and touch him. Completely thrown off by it I started walking again, "I brought the book." I started nervously, for the first time realising that it was in my bag. When I'd thrown it in this morning I'd barely even noticed. A blush crept up my cheeks adding to my unease. "I know it's a bit late and all but I figured since you were so interested in it last week you could, I don't know, take it up as some more light reading?" I suggested.

"Definitely. I hate to say it, Zaza, but you've sort of turned me into an Angel freak." He admitted, his hand sifting through his blond hair as a light blush dusted his cheeks.

I laughed, "Well then I don't suppose you'll mind helping me with a little project?" I boldly suggested, "I'm researching Angel and Nephilim ailments and I think it'll go a lot quicker if I have a partner."

It was a bad idea.

A horribly bad idea.

Not only would Da kill me if he knew I'd leant one Angel history book out to a human but suggesting that I share all of them? Oh geeze, I would be locked in my room with Eli and Dylan standing guard for the rest of eternity. That didn't really matter to me right then, however. I _wanted_ to share it all with Athen, I knew I could trust him.

The crease appeared, but only for a moment before it smoothed out and he smiled sheepishly. "Sure."

"Zaaaaailieeeeel!" A song-song voice chimed from behind me a second before Izzy was launching herself at me. "OMG, I have to tell you about what just happened! I was with Sasha and Brielle, right, and we're talking about the _disaster_ that is the Major Production thanks to my lack of appearance for the last week when this _hot_ guy – oh, hey Athen!" she released me for a second to wave emphatically at him then latched onto my side again, "Ooo! I have something to give you." She held up her finger to wait before she dug around in her clutch. "Where is it?" She huffed, lifting the clutch up to try and locate the mysterious object.

Athen was watching her with a cocked eyebrow, amusement clear in his eyes.

I shrugged, "Give her a moment. She does this a lot."

Izzy swatted me with her bag, "Shut up little miss I-forgot-where-i-put-Ezekie –" She caught herself a moment too late, realising we were in the presence of a human and in true Izzy fashion chose to completely change the subject as if that wasn't completely obvious. "Aha! Here it is!" Her hand came up to reveal a small, crinkled piece of red card with black printed writing announcing the Major Production. She thrust it towards him, "Since you helped me out I'm afraid you're gonna have to come watch." She sang, "Now, Zaza, I have massively important business to attend to in the form of the unbelievably _hot_ George Fredricks – who more than makes up for the lame name in _hotness_ – so if you will excuse me, I will see you later and you–" she whirled round to point at Athen, "I expect to see you there or very nasty things will occur that you will never be able to pin on me. Bye!" And with that Izzy bounced off down the hall for her meeting with the 'unbelievably hot George Fredricks'.

I shook my head. At least she was having a good time immersing herself in human normality. I on the other hand… "Library during lunch?"

"I'll be there." he assured, that spark in his eyes again.

**So some more bonding moments with Zaza and the 'rents and a little bit of Izzy craziness and a dash of Athen/Zaza (I need something to call them, any ideas? Lol, this shud be gud)**

**Yes, it's been ages and to be honest this has been sitting on my computer for ages I just haven't put it up…So Zaza and Athen's relationship is actually going to start progressing now and I swear there's going to be chaos but there are some things I need to get down before that can happen. **

**So listen guys, I'm in the process of signing my publishing contract and I'd like to know if any of you would be interested in ordering it? Obviously this will only be happening in about Jan/Feb next year after the whole process but I wanna get an idea of who wud be interested. I'm going to put my Blurb down below so you can get a feel for it. I know this story in particular is taking quite a while to get into things – I swear that's not the case in my book, it's like my other fics in regards to stuff starting right away. So if you're a fan of my writing and like my ideas, let me know so I can give you all the lowdown when it progresses a bit more!**

_the next second the floor was gone and I was plummeting downwards. A scream caught in my throat and all I managed to get out was a surprised gasp as Linden disappeared from sight. _

There is a portal, hidden beneath the ruins of a castle, separating this world from another filled with the impossible. Those known as the Talented possess abilities only dreamed about; they are Healers and Elementals, Telepaths and the coveted Arith Talents. But this world is far from perfect, a war waged over half a century ago has divided the inhabitants and a manipulative queen has destroyed any form of resistance. Or so she thought.

It was an accident, really. One can't plan to stumble through a portal to be trapped in a different world surrounded by children who can do things that should be impossible. Unfortunately for Alais, this is her new reality. She finds herself lost in a tidal wave of secrets, lies and unbearable truths. Who can she trust? She's starting to doubt the one person whom she thought she could depend on, the boy who fell into hell with her, and is growing more attached to her new life amongst those who share her newfound ability.

Things only get more complicated when the Ione – the rebels fighting against the queen – admit that Alais is the only one who can destroy the queen. She has a choice to make – help the rebels bring down the immortal queen or return home, but at a cost.

**The entire thing up there? I own it. All of it. No plagiarism of any kind will be tolerated. Seriously, plagiarists are the worst type of scum. **

**Thanks guys. **

**REVIEWS=LUV  
LUV=INSPIRATIONS  
INSPIRATIONS=UPDATES**

**Fangrules**


	10. Spark and Huntress

***Peers out cautiously from behind reinforced teddy barrier* **

**ok, i know, i know. i suck. I hardly ever update anymore and i haven't finished like half of my stories. I'M SORRY! things have been majourly hectic around here tho, i've had other things on my mind such as getting my second book well under way since book one is due out in about Feb next year, exams have been painful and i've been working on more of my original works instead of fanfics. im a horrible person and i feel really bad...that doesn't mean, however, that i'm giving up on ANY of my stories. it does mean tho, that, depeding on how badly i'm doing in math when i get my report (Which, trust me, is gonna be HORRIFIC) i dunno if i'll even be allowed on the computer never mind the interwebz so we'll have to play it by ear. **

**IF by some miracle i'm not grounded for life then i'll get something out to you all some time this holiday since i have the whole of August off. **

**Also, for those of you who are interested and i hope there's a lot of you to be honest, i've posted an original story on wattpad . com. i'd love for you guys to check it out. My username is _AndUCallMeWeird_ and the story is_ Spark Chronicles: Spark. _i'd love to get some feedback from u guys since your all so amazing at reviewing and the guys over at wattpad only care about one thing: getting their own stories read. which i can understand to an extent but HONESTLY, get. over. urselves! while this site has a tendency to have people who read and don't necessarily review, Wattpad almost has this unspoken rule that you do anything to avoid reading AND reviewing. they like to do things like pretend to read the first chapter of summin and drop a comment that gives the name of their story and say 'since i read urs read mine' which i think is completely horrid. this whole really bad bartering system isn't beneficial for anyone. there are some hugely talented people on the site too, so if you want something good to read then hop on over and check it out! it's a great place for people who want to display their works, taking into consideration that ur a damn good barterer as self-promotion is pretty much the only way to get people to even glance at ur stuff. **

**here's the write-up for Spark:**

Fable has spent sixteen years keeping her abilities a secret. Living in a society where being different means slavery she's spent every moment wondering when her luck will run out. That turns out to be when she meets her Talented, a boy named Shadow who's far too observant for his own good.

Forced to accept him in fear of him revealing her secret Fable struggles to keep him close enough for him to trust her and far enough that she doesn't get tangled up in the web of lies that seems to follow him everywhere.

**my other story, _Interitum,_ is pretty much Fall For Me, only drastrically shifted, altered and of course, doesn't have Fang, Max, Iggy and so forth in it though i haven't shifted my interpretations of them since i don't really think my versions really count as the original cast. give that a look too, if you'd like. i've improved it a lot, i promise, and taken out all the boring, dragging on that happens in the first chapters, you dive right in with Zaza shifting from age 18 to 22 and the various consequences of what happened in those four years.**

**so yeah, it would be great if you could just look it over, i dunno, see if it interests you enough as a non-fanficton to consider pre-ordering my book next year? My book, _Huntress_ and _Spark_ are not the same thing tho they both take place in the same world and share some basic principles since Spark is kinda a spin-off of _Huntress._ i'll give everyone more info when we're closer to the actual date so hopefully i can get a few peoples support. **

**Thanks a mil for all your patience! i'll get back to everything ASAP, i promise. **

**Fangrules**


	11. Dawn Dancer: Huntress

**GUYS THIS IS MASSIVELY IMPORTANT!**

**my book is now available for preorder. i'm BEGGING you! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! order it!i need to reach 100 books as soon as possible and i don't think there's anywhere else that i could get a good chunk of those from but here. ive been on this site for over three years now and have built up quite a fan base. please, if you enjoyed any of my fics, give my book a shot. it would mean SO much to me if you did! I know i've been terrible with updating and so forth, but this is my promise, if you guys help me reach 100, i will finish ALL of my unfinished stories by March next i have ten going,i think that's pretty fair don't you? PLEASE GUYS!this is my dream, and you're all so amazing and it would mean so much if you could help me!**

**here is the blurb:**

**Dawn Dancer: Huntress**

_**the next second the floor was gone and i was plummeting downwards. A scream caught in my throat. All i managed to get out was a surprised gasp as Linden disappeared from sight**_

**There is a portal hidden beneath the ruins of a castle, separating this world from another filled with the impossible. Those known as the Talented possess abilities only dreamed about. They are Healers and Elementals, Telepaths and the coveted Arith this world is far from perfect, a war waged half a century ago has divided the inhabitants and a manipulative queen has destroyed any form of resistance. Or so she thought. **

**It was an accident really, one cant plan to stumble through a portal, nor to be trapped in a different world surrounded by children who can do things that should be impossible. Unfortunately for Alais, this is her new reality. She finds herself lost in a tidal wave of secrets, lies and unbearable truths. Who can she trust? She's starting to doubt the one person whom she thought she could depend on, the boy who fell in with her, and is growing more attached to her new life amongst those who share her new-found ability. **

**Things only get more complicated when the Ione - the rebels fighting against the queen - admit that Alais is the only one who can destroy the queen. She has a choice to make - help the rebels bring down the immortal queen or return home, but at a cost.**

**The link!**

**Just type in Leigh Jones Huntress in google, and it is the first site to pop up. if you have trouble. go on to and search the title and the name. i wud post the link but FF is being spastic **

**thanks so much everyone! I hope you enjoy!**

**Fangrules**


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